


In Her Shadow

by VickiiMelissa



Category: Static Shock
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Creepy, Drama, Grief/Mourning, Healing, Hearing Voices, Illnesses, M/M, Mystery, Tragedy, Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:14:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 22,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23562895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VickiiMelissa/pseuds/VickiiMelissa
Summary: Richie couldn't save her. He watched her die. Now he can't sleep, and Virgil can't move on. Darkness creeps in on their lives from every angle- cold, and absolute. Richie and Virgil must find their way forward... even when memories and phantoms of the past try to pull them back.
Relationships: Richie "Gear" Foley/Virgil "Static" Hawkins, Richie Foley & Virgil Hawkins
Comments: 10
Kudos: 18





	1. Gone-in a Flash of Light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It all ends here. Or does it begin here?

Static sent an electric charge through the ground, but Talon took to the air instead. Her feathers bristled all down the back of her head and down her arms. She screamed, and her sonic waves crashed upon Static’s ears. He combated her waves by sending his own through the air. The two streams met midair and a gigantic BOOM went up that could be heard for miles. Both fighters were flung backward when the aftershock hit. 

“Get out of my way Talon!” Static shouted even as he struggled to his feet.

“Not a chance, sparky. We’re getting paid a lot of money to keep you out, and that’s what we’re going to do.” She opened her mouth to scream again, but was blocked when a tacky gelatinous substance engulfed her body, covering her mouth. Her feathers were suddenly heavy and sticky, and unable to maintain flight, she fell to the earth. She hit the ground hard, and Static turned to see Gear skating up behind him.

“Thanks Gear.”

“No problem for me. I knew this new compound would come in handy for something other than gunking up my work table.”

Suddenly a pool of shadow opened up beneath them, and they both took to the air just as the trash and various debris was swallowed up. The darkness swirled up and became a man- himself a shadow more than a man. Featureless, aside from white eyes. “Aw, too bad, Hero. Would have liked to end this quick. I got other shit to do today.”

“Shut it, Ebon!” Richie threw another pod, and Ebon dodged it, just to be caught up in a by Virgil. Virgil used his power to grab two sections of metal fencing and squashed Ebon between them before electrifying the fence.

“This isn’t a game, Ebon! I’m not in the mood!” Ebon let out a scream of pain, and Virgil finally dropped him to the ground, unmoving.

Panting, Virgil took off on his way. Gear caught up with him moments later. Gear glanced sideways at the visible sparks jumping and leaping around Statics fists and up his arms. “Get it under control, Static.” He sped ahead, and paused in front of static, both of them coming to a halt midair. “I know you’re worried, but you won’t be able to save anyone if you take out the whole building with a power surge. Not to mention, you accidentally put out an electromagnetic pulse you don’t mean to, and my Gear shuts off, and I go plummeting from the sky.”

Static took a deep breath, and then when he found he couldn’t really stay calm, he sped around Gear. “You weren’t there! They came to my house, Specs and Trapper. They broke down my door, they hit Sharon with an energy beam right in the doorway, and when I jumped over the sofa to check on her, Trapper immobilized me. He used that same stupid gauntlet as last time to slow my movements. So slow I couldn’t do anything when they took her. When they dragged Daisy away, she was yelling for me. She was yelling for Static to save her, but Virgil was stuck on his knees in the hallway.”

Static grew angrier just thinking about it, rage shot through him as he came to the hated destination. He and Gear pulled up short, staring down at the sign. ALVA INDUSTRIES: GENETIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Daisy adjusted the dials with shaking hands. She looked once more at the monitor that tracked the subject’s vitals. Her hand hovered over the dial that would inject the serum that once in the bloodstream, would allow isolation and extraction of the mutated DNA.

A hand reached around her and hit the dial. Daisy gasped, and then glowered over her shoulder at Specs. He smiled at her. “You always were our most useful grunt. Smartest. Fastest. Probably could have made it in the big leagues someday.”

“If this is the big leagues I think I’d rather get out of the game,” She spat back.

Specs shrugged. “Whatever. As long as you finish this quickly, we’ll let you go once you’re done. If you don’t hurry up though, we may pay dread head another visit, and this time we’ll do more that knock his big sister down.”

Daisy bit her lip and turned back to the computer. She looked up at the subject codenamed: Sandman.

He was a little boy with curly brown hair and great green eyes, currently glazed over and half lidded, as his mechanical prison kept him in a state of half-awake, half-asleep.

Daisy watched his face twitch as the rather large needle pierced his arm and injected the compound. His vitals spiked. He was feeling anxiety, and pain. His temperature soared. Daisy began to shake once more. She bowed her head, and tears fell from her eyes to the console below as she whispered to the unhearing boy, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Static and Gear soared through the facility hallways, following the electric pulses that Static could feel as a guide to the only active lab in the building. Just as they reached the lab doors, Static was blasted from the air by a stream of bright blue light. He bounced off the wall but caught himself before he hit the ground. Almost immediately, he was able to return fire, using his power to lift a several ton steel drum from the floor and hurling it in Spec’s direction.

Specs leapt out of the way, a look of utter panic on his face. “That was dangerous, wasn’t it, Speed Trap?”

“It really was, Spectrum. I think the lightning bug is angry.” They were both feigning bravado.

“Well, maybe he needs to slow down and think about it a bit; don’t you agree?”

“I do.” Trapper raised his gauntlet, taking aim at Static, who seemed not to be listening as he focused on Specs.

Then a small round disk hit the gauntlet, thrown by Gear. Tiny wires immediately sprung forth, digging into the metal, under the plates and into the inner mechanics of the device. There was a popping and sizzling, and Trapper was soon ripping off both gauntlets as the systems failed and they started sparking and burning him. Gear followed with a restraint device, and Trapper fell over, incapacitated.

He glared up at Gear, who smiled back. “Man, I didn’t think it would be that easy. Guess I shouldn’t have expected so much from amateurs.”

“Wha- We aren’t amateurs!”

“No? Just out of your league then, huh?”

Then there was a tremor, and the whole building shook. Gear looked around. When Trapper had gone down, Specs had panicked, and blown a whole in the side of the building as he attempted to strike Static. Static of course, was holding his own rather well. Gear heard a beep on his belt: their communicators. “I’m going after Specs. The police are almost here, I can see the lights from here,”

“Good,” Gear was glad Static was thinking rationally enough to signal the police at least. “I’ll grab Daisy and meet them outside.”

“I don’t know, I’m pretty sure Specs took out a support beam where you are, get out of there, and the emergency workers can help you reach Daisy. Ahhh! Gear, I gotta go!” Gear moved to help Static, but then the building gave another tremor, and he changed direction. Static would be fine. Daisy was shut in the lab, and if the building was compromised, Daisy definitely would need help. He used Backpack to quickly pick the lock on the lab door, and rushed through.

He took in the scene before him; Daisy had obviously felt the building coming down too, and had abandoned whatever work she was doing for Specs and Trapper and had climbed up on a platform to attempt to release a little boy from restraints that were holding him to a table. Gear sped to her side, shouting, “Stand aside!” Daisy looked around and jumped to follow his command as he used Backpack’s laser to cut through the metal guards. He disconnected an IV system. Daisy removed the needle, wiping away the little bit of blood that beaded over his skin with her finger, and Richie gently lifted the child into his arms.

CRASH!

Something outside exploded, the building gave a great shudder and a huge portion of the ceiling fell loose and crushed half of the console behind Daisy. She screamed, and Gear shielded her and the boy with his body. A scrap of metal flew close, and shattered a portion of his visor. As Trapper’s gauntlets had, his helmet let out a spark, and he immediately ripped it off before it could burn him.

Daisy gasped. “Richie?” She stared at her friend. “Gear is Richie? Then… Static? Virgil!!?”

“Daisy, we need to get out of here, now, before this whole place is a pile of rubble and scrap.”

She tried to shake off her shock and focus. “W-we need to check the system. They were researching the bang baby gas here. If the protections fail, there could be a third big bang,”

“Jesus, another one?”

“Yeah, that or it’ll combust if it reaches the charge chamber, and there’ll just be a massive explosion. This building his coming down anyway, but we need to make sure the tanks underground stay intact.”

“Right.” They moved quickly to the computer, and Richie commanded Backpack to plug into the system.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Outside, Virgil and Specs battled their hardest. They were on more or less equal terms, until Specs unveiled his new weapon. A new augmentation to his suit that carried devastating power. Static was blasted so hard he flew backward off his disk and hurtled toward the ground. He was barely holding onto consciousness, trying to figure out just what he had been hit with.

It had felt at first like a shadow passing over him on a hot day, and then he was encased in blackness. He heard a sound like crashing waves, then a roaring sound, and then he was in searing pain and flying toward the ground.

Suddenly, someone caught him around the middle. He looked up to see Batman lowering himself and Static to the top of the roof. “Batman, what are you doing here?”

“This man and his partner stole a prototype from Wayne tech. It’s designed to allow scientists to study dark matter. If weaponized, it holds potential to cause havoc on a huge scale since it moves literally at the speed of light.”

“Yeah I realized that. Specs must have combined it with the light based tech he already has.” They dodged another green light attack, but even from here, Static could see Specs charging up for another black matter attack.

“It could get much worse. He stole the prototype, but none of the fail-safe materials. He’s holding an unstable weapon, with no way to stop it if it goes off.”

“What happens if it goes off?”

“Boom.”

“Uh, like, this building goes boom?”

“More like all of Dakota.”

“That’s not good.”

“No kidding,” Batman raised a bat-a-rang. “Follow my lead.”

Batman flung the metal blade, and Specs aimed an attack at it. Batman took the moment to distraction to attach a cable to Spec’s leg. Specs tried to blast off the cable, but it was too strong. He seemed to consider aiming for Batman, who had hold of the other end of the cable, but instead opted to fly upward. Batman was hoisted up into the air.

“Batman!” Static flew after him.

“Maintain distance until I say so!” Batman shouted at him. Surprised, Static dropped back as they climbed, 50, 100, 150, 250 meters in the air. He kept his eyes on Batman, always prepared to catch him if he had to.

“Get off of me!” Specs shouted, now he turned and blasted wildly at Batman and Static.

“Now, Static!” Batman beckoned Static over, and weaving around the light blasts, Static accelerated to catch up. Batman caught his wrist and guided his hand to the cable. Cottoning on, Static gripped it with both hands and as Batman dropped back on his glider, which soared from the clouds to catch him, he sent a charge through the cable.

The effect was instantaneous. The power shut off in most of Spec’s suit, and he started to fall, faster than Static was prepared for, as the charge had drained him. As specs passed him, he saw the light grow brighter in the left arm of his suit where the black matter pulse had come from.

He attempted to use his power to pull the piece off of Specs, but was not fast enough, and something like a hundred meters below Static, there was a massive explosion. Static’s powers blinked, and he recognized an electromagnetic pulse pass over him as he dropped a few terrifying feet.

He looked over to Batman, to make sure he was still airborne. Then he realized the EMP probably affected electronics on the ground too. “Gear!” He shouted, and he sped back toward the ground.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“No, No no!” Richie shouted as backpack shut down. He rebooted quickly, just as the reserves underground kicked the lights back on. They hadn’t been without power long, but it was long enough. The guards had failed, and the gas was already making its way up through the systems.

“What’s happened?” Daisy shouted. She was tending to the boy, who was slowly beginning to come round, and who looked confused and scared.

“Specs must have shorted Static or his own suit. There was and EMP and we lost power. Everything failed. The only thing I can do is reroute it and make it combust before it reaches the surface. Get the boy out of here; I’ll be right behind you as soon as I- Hey!” Richie was typing furiously, willing his hands to move faster than they ever had, and willing them to work faster than the pipes could carry the gas when Daisy darted past him.

“But have we tried everything? Maybe we can still seal it off manually.”

“Come back, Daisy, there’s no time!”

She shouted as she threw open a panel below the platform, “What if we try-” She gasped. She had just enough time to see the control panel cracked and unusable, then turn back toward Richie before she was blinded by light.

Richie saw it coming and threw himself over the boy.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

BOOM!

_____________________________________________________________________________________

The lights popped out overhead, red emergency lights flickered to life instead. Static zoomed over the debris. He had taken the time to remove a still trapped Trapper from the building and was glad he had, as the explosion a few moments later has scorched the concrete where he had been lying. Static moved toward the lab with Batman close behind him. It occurred to Static somewhere in the back of his mind that Batman was fast for a man with no powers.

He threw open the doors so he could soar through, and his heart seemed to stop. The center of the floor was clear of debris, as it seemed the explosion had incinerated everything in a 15 foot radius in the middle of the floor. Static moved over the rubble, searching.

“Help!”

“Gear!? Daisy!?” Static shouted.

“There!” Batman pointed to an area where under a pile of fallen electronics and concrete, a small hand waved from under the pile. “Help us! Please! There’s people, right?”

There had been a kid in here? Static rushed over. “Hold on! I’ll get you out!” He lifted the pile, and nearly dropped it in shock.

Richie’s mask had come off at some point, and he now lay unmoving on top of a boy- 6 or 7 years old by the look of it. Richie was bleeding, from his mouth, wounds on his back. There was a long piece of rebar sticking out of his leg, the same one he’d been shot in years before.

“Static!” Batman’s voice broke through. Static looked up, and the things he’d been listing to the side came crashing down. The child winced at the loud noise. Batman took Richie’s pulse. “Lift him up and turn him over. Do what you can to keep him still.”

Static did as he was told, noticing as he turned his best friend over, that his blonde hair was streaked with red, meaning he was also probably bleeding from his scalp, and his hand clutched their shock vox.

He unhooked his own from his belt, and noticed it was non-functioning. The EMP had wiped his out. Richie had probably been calling with his last conscious breath, and Static had missed the message.

No! Not his last breath. Richie would be fine. He would wake up again. Static couldn’t think this way. He shook his head.

Batman lifted the boy, who seemed amazed as he stared at Batman, “You’re Batman! You’re the real Batman!”

“Was there a girl in here?” Batman asked him.

The boy suddenly looked sad and confused again. “I- Yeah, I think so. She was over there.” He pointed at the clear area of the floor. A sharp pain seemed to rip through Static’s heart. “He tried to pull her back, but then there was a light, and he jumped over me.” The boy’s eyes filled with tears. “I think he protected me.”

“You’re right.” Batman said. He clapped Static on the shoulder. With Batman’s hand, the weight of reality seemed to come down upon Static’s shoulder. Daisy was in the blast radius when the explosion happened. There was no way she was alive. “Come on, Static. Gear needs help. We need to get him out of here.”


	2. The World Keeps Turning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're getting back to some type of normal, but it's hard.

The funeral was a larger affair than would have been expected under any other circumstance. Daisy’s family was present, and so were many of her classmates. But in addition to that, there was a minor scandal when a reporter and his camera crew showed up and attempted to question those in attendance about Daisy’s demise as it related to the Alva labs explosion. The revelation that it had been caused by an illegal store of the big bang gas had pitched Edwin Alva into the media spotlight along with Daisy’s family.

Virgil maintained distance from the reporters and stuck close to his father and sister. Sharon was still feeling tender from her encounter with Specs and Trapper, but appreciated that Virgil hadn’t hesitated to jump to her aid. She smiled often at her baby brother, and put a lot of effort into cheering him up- as much as she reasonably could under the circumstances at least. His girlfriend of two years had died after all.

\----------------------------------------------------------------

In the hospital, Richie could only text Virgil at the funeral to stay connected. He gave his condolences, and cursed his “junkyard accident” for keeping him from paying his respects in person. Daisy’s family thanked him for his kind thoughts, and wished him well.

Richie’s father had yelled himself hoarse about Richie’s injuries. His mother had sighed and rolled her eyes, once the doctor had declared him on the mend, of course. Richie was careful to say he was alone at the time of the incident. Pretending he had gone scavenging for parts in the scrap yard and simply chose an unstable tower to climb.

Mr. Hawkins, Virgil’s father, may know about his activities as Gear, but he knew if he told his own parents they would put a stop to it. Further in the case of his father, Virgil would probably be blamed for influencing his son.

He had thought his father had made some headway getting his head out of his ass about race, but it crept up now and again along with homophobia, and Richie could tell it made Virgil uncomfortable to be around his family. Virgil was kind enough not to mention it much, and never treated Richie as anything less than his best friend because of it.

“There’s just no helping people sometimes, Rich,” Virgil had said with a sad shrug one time. “You can’t help what he does. I’m just glad you haven’t let it affect how you see people too.”

Richie lay under the covers at the hospital, sweating and sore from a week and a half old surgery. He was soon going to need his next dose of pain killers and antibiotics, and as it was, for now, he was trying to rest, and being hampered by bad dreams.

Like a mist, every time he let his exhausted mind carry him toward sleep, it all came back to settle as a haze over his dreams. Vivid, visceral, real, he felt his own blood soaking his leg as it went numb from pain, heard the little boy cry as he feebly called for Static, only to realize his communicator was out. He recalled, and then he was living the moment he began to move for Daisy, and then realizing he was too late, throwing himself over the boy instead. He remembered her face. The face of his best friend’s girlfriend as he failed to save her. She looked surprised, and scared, and she reached for him before she was engulfed in light and disappeared.

Her eyes lingered more than anything else, their deep brown grew darker, and suddenly he was engulfed in them, drowning in her gaze and he heard wind whipping by him, roaring in his ears as he was pulled downward. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, for a moment he saw his own face. He was reaching out, then his face changed from one of concern to one of fear and he turned and ran away. Richie reached for his own retreating back, and was engulfed by light. Like a whisper on a breath he heard the word, why?

Richie jerked awake. Virgil was leaning over him. He looked concerned, searching Richie’s face as if scouring for new injuries. Richie hated that. He shouldn’t be here looking concerned for him. He should be with Daisy, but Richie had failed, and she was gone. He heard that whisper again, _why_?

Then Virgil grabbed his face and spoke loudly and clearly, “Richie. I said can you hear me? Rich?”

And with Virgil’s touch, Richie was jolted back to himself. Of course, of course Virgil was here. He was kind, and didn’t blame Richie for Daisy being gone. If anything, if Richie knew him as well as he thought- and Richie was sure he did- he was willing to bet Virgil blamed himself for what happened to Daisy. Richie was going to help him learn he was not at fault. He would be there for Virgil.

Then he realized Virgil was still looking at him closely.

He cleared his throat meekly, blushing, and realized he had tears on his face. He wiped them away with a shaking hand, and smiled at Virgil. “H-hey. Sorry.”

Virgil shook his head. “You were having a nightmare.”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. It’s understandable,” a gruff voice spoke from behind Virgil. Richie jumped, and Virgil put a hand on his shoulder.

“Sorry,” he said with a laugh. “I was gonna let you sleep but you have a visitor, and he didn’t want to wait. Then when we came in you were tossing and turning.”

Batman stood there in the shadows accompanied by a young man some years older than they. He was dressed in all black body armor with a blue insignia across his chest and shoulders that made a v-ish shape but curved like wings. “How are you Richie?” Batman asked.

“I’m doing… well, you saw. I could be better.” Richie looked tiredly toward the door. “Virg, Mom and Dad?”

“Your parents are talking to my pops out in the lobby. They were on their way out for the night when we came in, so I think we’re good.”

“Ah. What are you doing in town, Batman? I thought you were back in Gotham already.”

“Just stopping in. Nightwing and I are following a lead for a case.” Batman paused. “Have you had nightmares like this since?”

Richie looked down at his lap.

“Don’t bottle it up, Richie.” Batman approached the bed and gave Richie a card.

“Black Canary? From Star City?”

“Ah, she is kind of the unofficial youth counselor for the league and its members.” Nightwing added. “She’s discreet, and because she’s one of us, you can tell her everything and not have to worry about your secret identity or cover stories.”

“You should consider talking to her, Richie. She has no problem doing video chat sessions if you need to.”

Richie nodded and thanked them both. Batman nodded and after a moment of contemplation, he ruffled Richie’s hair and the next moment, he and Nightwing were gone. Richie lay back in the bed and sighed. He shivered when he thought of the nightmare he’d had. Virgil sat on the edge of his chair and reached out to grip Richie’s hand.

“You gonna be okay, Rich? You were really tossing and turning.”

“I’m… yeah. Will you stay for a bit? Til I’m asleep? I don’t like being here. I think it’s messing with my head.”

“Course. Just think, you’ll be home in two days, your mom said.”

“Yeah…” Richie was already fading, and soon fell into a deep sleep. There were no more dreams that night.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------

Patrol was busy but not challenging. Static stopped a purse snatcher and a car-jacking. He assisted fire fighters as they stopped an apartment fire by funneling out as much smoke as he could. As the fire went out and some of the firemen and women clapped him on the back, Static was approached by a couple police officers.

They also thanked him for his hard work. He beamed as he checked his watch. It was time to head back. He pulled his disk from his pocket, and as he prepared to leave, he heard officers talking with paramedics about where to take the burn victims.

“There’s no room at Dakota central. They’re full up on their hospital beds.”

“North is too far. They’re just going to have to make room. This guy could lose his leg.”

“Well, I could help,” Virgil interjected. “If it’s just the one ambulance, I could carry it to North and shave like, thirty minutes off the freeway.”

“Static, that’s perfect. I’ll go get him ready for transport.” Virgil nodded as the paramedic ran off with his partner. He hopped on his disk and hovered in the air beside the officers, already kind of regretting volunteering, as North would still be about a twenty-minute flight. He’d lifted heavier things than an ambulance for sure, but he would be sore for days after.

“Thanks, Static,” echoed the officer next to him.

“No problem. Why are the beds at Dakota full though?”

“There’s been a bunch of cases of people getting sick. They come in with sweating and hallucinations and supposedly without having slept in days. At first, we thought it may be a new drug, because of the type of people getting brought in and their weird test results, but then we also started getting grannies and kids. Most of them are put in medically induced comas eventually. No one had died yet, thank god, but it may unfortunately be a matter of time at this point.” A chill ran down Static’s spine at the solemn look in the officer’s face.

“H-how is it spreading.”

“That’s the thing. We don’t know. Almost none of the victims so far have much crossover to one another at all. At this point, we’re afraid it may be someone going around poisoning people with some kind of… something. It may even be a new bang baby we haven’t met yet. The only witness we have reported a shadowy man around 7 feet tall with all blacked out skin. No face.”

“Sounds like Ebon.” Ebon- the shadow man. The bang-baby with the ability to hide, move in and manipulate shadows.

“We thought so too, but no one has been able to track him down for questioning.”

“Aaand I assume that’s why you’re telling me all this? You want me to look for him?”

The officer shrugged. “We need all the help we can get. We know you and Ebon have history, and to be honest, even if we find him, he’s one my officers are under orders not to approach. He’s too dangerous.”

Static nodded. “I’ll keep an eye out.”

The medic called to Static, and he took a deep breath before taking off with the ambulance in tow.

\---------------------------------------------------------------

For what felt like the millionth time in the last three weeks, Richie awoke with a start with Virgil leaning over him. He had been laying on the sofa in their headquarters, napping in the last bit of sun pouring in through their window. Now he was sweating as Virgil shook him from yet another nightmare.

Richie couldn’t even sit up however before he was dragged back to dreamland and fell limp under Virgil’s gaze. Virgil sighed, and stood up straight, peeling off his gloves and mask and heading for the shower. He’d just returned from patrol to find Richie tossing and turning. They only brought in the sofa so Richie would stop sleeping at his desk. He wasn’t back on patrol yet, and had thrown himself into working day and night on his gear and gadgets for Static and improvements for their abandoned gas station HQ.

Virgil let Richie sleep while he showered, changed back into his civilian clothes and did his homework. Richie occasionally tossed or shifted, but for the most part, he slept peacefully. Somewhere around the time Virgil was stretching and thinking about dinner, Richie shifted and yawned. He sat up, and only seemed to become aware of Virgil’s presence very slowly.

“You feeling better?” Virgil asked, handing Richie his glasses.

“Yeah. Hand me that blue box please?”

Virgil reached for a blue box on the desk top and- “WOAH!” it opened; winding around Virgil’s wrist and encasing his forearm in a heavy armor with a display for time, vitals and a mini-map. “Uh, I’d love to hand it to you Rich, but you’re gonna have to make it unhand me first.”

“Huh? Oh,” Richie leaned off the sofa, using Virgil’s knee for support and tapped a barely noticeable panel on the side of the armguard, and it released Virgil and returned to a cube in Richie’s hand. Richie opened the same small panel and held out his hand. Virgil rolled his eyes and handed him a screwdriver. Richie rubbed his eyes again and spoke as he worked on the box. “It’s an addition I was thinking of adding to my Gear. Right now, it’s too delicate for that. I may send a couple prototypes to the Dakota hospital to make monitoring all the extra patients easier. Have you heard about all these people getting sick?”

“Yeah. That’s a great idea. We could ask Batman for help with that. I’m pretty sure Mr. Wayne’s company has some connections to the hospitals.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Richie said vaguely as he worked. “How was patrol?”

“Nothing major.” Virgil said it in a tone that Richie knew meant he was hiding something. Likewise, the smell of smoke clung to his dark skin and hair, even under the splash of cologne and the shower gel. “Stopped some punks that vandalized the rec center just before I got here. They claimed they were trying to warn people by marking the wall.”

“Warn against what?”

Virgil shrugged. “They just painted a big black blob with white eyes. I think they just got there a couple minutes before me.” Virgil looked contemplatively at their “wall of characters” where they kept pictures and sketches of every bang baby they’d identified in their work thus far. Ebon- his white, blank eyes menacing and hinting at an unseen smile in this candid shot- caught Richie’s eye. Did Virgil think Ebon was the one the warning was about? Virgil stretched again. “Let’s go eat, Rich.”

“Nah, I’ll order something. You can go, besides I forgot my jacket.”

“That’s what you said before I went on patrol.” _See, he caught you in a lie._ Richie stiffened. “Have you eaten anything since breakfast?”

On que, Richie’s stomach rumbled loudly and he cleared his throat. “I just haven’t been hungry.”

“For the last week and a half, Richie? You’re barely eating. You’ve lost weight; I can tell. It’s been near below zero at night lately and you forgot your jacket? Rich, you just aren’t taking care of yourself.”

“Nah, you just think that because you’ve beefed up, V. It was warmer when I got here, so I just didn’t think to grab my jacket. It’s not a big deal.”

Virgil flexed his bicep and looked at it with a smile. “Thanks for noticing, but you know I’m right, Richie. Remember what we agreed on.”

“No Gear if I don’t take care of myself.” _He doesn’t think you can._ Richie hung his head. “I’m sorry, Virgil.”

Virgil clapped a hand on Richie’s shoulder, and smiled. “I know you can do this, just let me know if you need help. There’s no reason for you to do it alone.”

Richie gave his head a small shake and smiled. “You’re right. Thanks. He gripped Virgil’s hand on his shoulder, and said quietly, “I don’t know why it’s so hard, Virgil. Sometimes I feel great, and motivated to get back up again. Sometimes it’s like I’m stuck at the bottom of a pit or something. I can see the way out, but I can’t reach it.”

“It was like that with my mom.” Virgil said in a hushed voice also. “It takes time, Rich. But it also takes effort from you.”

Richie nodded. “Yeah.” His stomach gave a loud rumble and they both chuckled a little at the silly sound interrupting their serious moment. “Let’s go, V. Chili-dogs?”

Virgil pulled a spare hoodie from his backpack and tossed it to Richie. “I’m more feeling Barbeque.


	3. It's Always Worse in the Dark

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Richie's nightmares get more intense. More real. Virgil thinks he's ready to return to where it all ended. He's not.

Static was doing one last patrol before heading home. He had a bad feeling about those vandals earlier; their faces when they spoke about the warning were genuine fear. His musings were interrupted when he heard a scream somewhere to his left. He zoomed off in the direction of the screaming and came upon a woman running as if her life depended on it.

Static wondered only a moment what she was running from, and then his question was answered when a spindly shadowy figure seemed of jump from the wall ahead of her. Static heard it groan, “Need… I need...”

She screamed and fell back on the pavement. She tried to scramble back the other way and it ran at her with a wobbly bow-legged run, arms swinging this way and that. Static swooped down on his disk and jumped in front of the shadow man as the woman scrambled behind him.

“S-static! Save me! Please!”

“Don’t worry,” Static took a stance and readied for battle. “I won’t let it hurt you. How about you try me, tall, dark, and gruesome?”

The shadow was gruesome alright, on closer look, it did appear to drip darkness itself, and it came to a stop in front of Static. The sudden transition from all that wobbling to absolute stillness made Static uneasy. For what seemed like hours, none of them moved. Then, slowly, the creature faded to nothing before their eyes. With a low groan like creaking wood, it vanished.

“O-oh my god. Is it…?”

“Gone, for now. Why was it chasing you?”

“I don’t know. I work at the bakery on ninth. I locked up for the night and it came out of nowhere when I was walking to my car. I couldn’t get around it, so I ran away. I-If you hadn’t… I might have…” and she cried into Static’s shoulder. He hugged her gently, and pulled her to her feet.

“Come on, I’ll take you home.”

He pulled her onto his disk and rose into the air. “Ninth, you said?”

“Yeah.”

Static turned, and something caught his eye. Here in this low-income neighborhood the houses were small and on the edge of the industrial district. A few blocks away, as they rose into the air, Static could make out the hollow shell that used to be the Alva Labs. He turned away, but as he did so, for just a second he thought he saw the shadowy creature wobbling off in that direction.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was worse in the dark. It was always worse in the dark. He wished he could find the light. Here in the dark, he had only his thoughts, his doubt, his fears.

It used to be that he would see it over and over; her last moments would replay. Through her eyes, he watched himself fail to save her. Through his own eyes, he watched her disappear.

The setting changed. He was alone, floating in a strange space that felt like wind whipping around him in his immediate area, and somehow he knew just outside his reach in the darkness was something worse… something darker than black.

_You left her to die._

The words came without real voice, like wind whispering through trees.

“I… I didn’t.” he spoke to the darkness and a pain like claws ripping at his skin raked across his back as the voice shrieked, _LIAR._

He cried out, and covered his head. Curling in on himself, but as he was floating in space, there was nowhere to hide as the voice threw out accusations and punishing blow after punishing blow. Finally, there was a pause, and Richie, weeping, perceived that there was light in front of him.

He looked up at it, hoping it was a way out, and instead it was her. Her face, her death mask horrifying and beautiful. Soft light emanating from her heart, but it was as if death it’s self was clawing at her edges. Black scorch marks inched in across her face and up her arms, reaching at, but unable to quite grab hold of her very soul.

“Daisy,” Richie clutched his chest in pain. There was a _piercing_ pain there. Guilt and sadness swirled in his stomach. She was looking him in the face, and then her gaze dropped. Richie followed her line of sight and saw her arm reaching into his chest. She began to pull back, and within her hand was… smaller than one would expect and fluttering erratically…

Richie screamed.

In an instant Daisy was gone. Richie snapped awake. He was in his bed this time, and his father was leaning over him. Richie gripped his father’s arm with a shaking hand. It was warm and even without his glasses Richie could tell his father was greatly concerned.

“Richie can you hear me?”

“Yeah.” Richie said breathlessly. He sat up. “Yeah, sorry, Dad.”

“It’s okay. Richie, what’s going on? You’ve been having these nightmares ever since you got hurt. Are you sure you have nothing to tell us about how…”

“Dad, I’ve told you, I- It was stupid of me to go scavenging without Virgil. I…” He paused. He could be truthful about some part of what was bothering him so long as he kept the context vague. “Maybe that’s what it is…”

“What?”

“I just… When I fell, it hurt bad, and I was pinned. I was laying there, alone, and… and it got dark….” He wiped at the tears in his eyes. “If I hadn’t been found I’d be dead, and where I was, I didn’t know how long that would take. I thought I was going to die there, alone. I should have listened to Virgil.”

“I thought you said he wasn’t there.” His father said sharply.

The accusatory tone in his father’s voice annoyed Richie. He pushed his father’s hand off his shoulder, and swung his legs off the bed. “He wasn’t. He told me to get out… of the junk yard and wait for help with it. Why do you always think he’s going to get me into trouble?” Richie pitched the question irritably as he slipped on his glasses and pulled a hoodie over his t-shirt. _You know why._ He caught the smell of Virgil’s cologne and chuckled without mirth. How would his father react if he knew Richie was wearing Virgil’s clothes?

“Did I say that?” Said his dad irritably.

Richie scoffed, “Like you had to.”

He stormed to the door and his dad cut him off. “Where do you think you’re going, Richard Foley? It is almost four in the morning and we’re going to church tomorrow.”

“I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. Get back to bed.”

“No. I don’t believe in any of that bullshit. I’m going to Virgil’s.”

“No, you aren’t, and watch your damn mouth.”

“Seriously?”

“You aren’t going anywhere.”

“Yes, I am! I turn eighteen in less than a week, then you can’t _make_ me do anything.”

“And for now, you’re still a child under my roof, and you will do as I tell you. Richard Foley, get back to bed!” _A child and a disappointment._ Richie shook his head.

“Boys?” Richie’s mother came around the corner in a bathrobe and sleepily looked in on them both. Her husband standing in the doorway with fists clenched. Her son haphazardly dressed in pajama bottoms, a hoodie that she didn’t recognize, his running shoes on and a with bad case of bed head.

Richie’s dad immediately turned to his wife for back up. “Richie had a nightmare, and now he’s trying to storm off to that boy’s house.”

“His name is Virgil!” Richie shouted, fists also clenched.

His father heaved a deep sigh and through clenched teeth, he said, “Back me up here, tell him to get his ass back in bed.”

Richie gave his father the dirtiest of dirty looks. “I’m going.”

“It is late, Richie.”

“But mom,” _she sees a child also. She stays with him despite what he does._ Richie gritted his teeth. Why had he thought she’d understand?

“You heard your mother. And we’ll talk about that comment you made against the church in the morning. For now, you aren’t getting through this door, so go back to bed.”

Richie looked between his parents, then said, “Fine.” And before they could stop him, he turned, pulled the window and hopped out onto the roof.

“Richard!”

“Richard, you get your skinny ass back here.” They were leaning out his window while he quickly stepped across the roof. He heard his father stepping out and jumped down to ground level. He felt something in his ankle pop, but got up and began to jog from the house.

“Fine! You go, and stay there! You turn eighteen in a week? You think that makes you a big man!? Stay there, and when you turn eighteen you’re on your own!”

Richie paused at the end of the yard. He looked back to see his bedroom window slamming closed and seconds later the light went out. He waited for a moment, and no one came out of the house. They’d gone back to bed.

He wasn’t sure how to feel emotionally, and the winter cold was quickly seeping through the hoodie. He pulled the hood up, crossed his arms, and began to walk.

Richie had been scolded on the doorstep to the Hawkins’s household. Sharon had berated him for the early hour, Mr. Hawkins had disapproved of the storming out on his parents, and Virgil had pulled him in out of the cold, draping a blanket around his shoulders while he scolded him for continued neglect of his health and safety.

Sharon and Mr. Hawkins had yielded when Richie’s eyes had filled with tears. He hung his head and apologized to his best friend and his family, and the two boys were soon left alone downstairs. Sharon had made them both hot chocolate, Mr. Hawkins had dug out their first aid kit, and now Virgil was gently applying antiseptic and bandaging the cuts and scrapes Richie got jumping off his roof.

Richie felt incredibly stupid over the whole thing now he was calmed down and hoped his ankle would stop throbbing by the morning. He was hurt over what his father had said though, and told Virgil about the whole fight in hushed tones.

Virgil listened, and by time Richie got to the part where his father told him not to come back, Virgil was putting the first aid kit back and pouring them both cereal. It was nearly five now, and Virgil was usually up in a half an hour anyway to go jogging before school. They ate in silence -Richie was barely able to stay awake- and then traipsed upstairs to shower and change.

At fifth period, just after lunch, Virgil was using his study hall to research as Richie napped next to him. He pulled up articles on the Alva Labs explosion, and more from the weeks after. Nearly all coverage had stopped only a week after Daisy’s funeral, no doubt Alva’s PR team at work.

Virgil looked up shadow monsters and got a lot of results to do with dream theories, news stories about ebon, and ghosts but the only recent result he got as a passing refence from a burglary where the only witness was a man now suffering from the unknown illness in the hospital. He had claimed all he saw of the thief was a small person, no larger than a child and he had not been able to sleep since.

Virgil made note of this. The police had described a large man. If this case was connected, it may mean accomplices. Virgil had to move finding Ebon to the top of his to do list.

Virgil wasn’t sure if talking to this man would be helpful or not. He figured he should at least take a look at the scene later as Static. He wondered if he should ask Gear to come back to help him out. He looked down at Richie, sleeping with Virgil’s hoodie as a pillow. The gold hoop in his ear had somehow flipped up against his lobe. Virgil smiled bemusedly and flicked it back down.

Richie stirred just as the bell rang for class. Richie yawned. “Ah…. I don’t wanna go. I can’t think right now, much less in Spanish.”

“Yeah right, super genius. You’re practically fluent already.”

“Gracias, Amigo.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. They went to stand, and Richie cried out and stumbled. “What-?” Virgil caught Richie who looked mildly embarrassed. “What the heck was that?” Virgil demanded.

“Ah, well, it looks like I may have sprained my ankle… when I jumped... off the roof… Yesterday.”

Virgil heaved a heavy sigh and took Richie’s arm over his shoulder. “Come on, let’s go to the nurse.”

Richie followed along obediently, hopping on one leg, and Virgil silently dismissed the idea of Gear’s return any time soon. He would go interview the man and look at Alva Labs alone.

\------------------------------------------------------

Richie limped to the sofa and lay down when Virgil told him to. He was very embarrassed that he’d managed to hurt himself with what he’d pulled. His parents had refused the call from the nurse, and it was instead Mr. Hawkins that had come to take Richie to the hospital for x-rays and a splint.

The doctor had scolded him, then Mr. Hawkins had scolded him. Then Sharon had scolded him. Virgil had said nothing. He had brought his bag to the hospital after school. He had answered for him when the doctor asked what had happened. He had rolled up Richie’s pant leg for him around his splint.

When they got back to the house, Virgil had made up the sofa as a bed for him and left to the kitchen. When He came back, it was with a giant bowl of popcorn. He settled on the floor with his back to the sofa and switched the television on. Richie watched him. His profile bore a strong resemblance to the pictures Richie had seen of his mother, but was unmistakably masculine. Strong jawline, piercing eyes. He was beautiful.

“You aren’t… going to say anything to me?”

“Like what?”

“That I was stupid and reckless and should have said something… or something.”

“Well it seems like you already know so why should I say anything?”

Richie shrugged. “Everyone else has.” Virgil sighed. _You’re annoying him._ Richie bit his lip and hugged the pillow. “Sorry I brought it up.”

Virgil shook his head. “Rich… the way I see it, yeah, you were all those things. Reckless and whatever. Everyone got mad because they’re worried about you.” _Or burdened by you…_ ”but… You were also sleep deprived when you did it, and I know you’d just woken up from another nightmare when it all went down right?”

Richie nodded.

“So just… don’t do something like that again. Right?”

“Right." 

"I can tell you’re still tired. Why don’t you try to get some sleep?”

Virgil used the remote to navigate to a monster movie they’d seen a thousand times. Richie was still watching Virgil. As he watched, one of Virgil’s dreadlocks fell over his shoulder and blocked part of his face from view. Richie reached out and pulled it back. He twirled it between his fingers, and used it to tickle Virgil’s cheek. Virgil twitched away, and spared him a glance and a smile before returning his attention to the movie. “Go. To. Sleep,” Virgil chimed to the tune of the next commercial jingle.

There was a noise, and Richie looked up, startled to see Sharon standing behind the sofa, hands on hips. She was looking at the TV, and Richie hurriedly dropped Virgil’s hair.

“Don’t forget about your homework, little brother. You too.” Sharon reached down and flicked Richie’s forehead.

“Ow! Yeah. We won’t forget.”

“It’s cool, Sharon. I’ll do it before I go on patrol.”

“You better. And you better remember to do the dishes when you get back in. It’s your turn and I’m not doing it for you.” Virgil looked pained, and groaned as she walked off, and Richie smiled at Virgil.

“You want me to do the dishes for you?”

“Please. I might not get back til early morning and I’d like _some_ sleep if I can.

“Only if you give me your half of the popcorn.” Virgil groaned again, and handed it over. “Ha-ha!”

Richie only had bit of popcorn however, before he fell asleep, hand flopped over the side of the sofa on Virgil’s shoulder. Virgil smiled as he reclaimed the bowl, and pulled Richie’s glasses from his face and set them on the side table. He tossed a few kernels in his mouth. “I knew he was tired.”

Static shook his head feeling frustrated. What had he been thinking?

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The visit to the man had yielded next to nothing. He had been one of the first one’s placed in a medical coma apparently, and had no friends. No family the nurses knew of. He worked for a gaming store. That’s all anyone knew.

Night had been falling when he “saw” the shadow heading toward the labs. It could easily have been a trick of the light in some back alley. Maybe he had just wanted to come here all along and simply needed an excuse. Maybe he should leave and just search for Ebon directly to get some answers if he had any.

Now he was standing in the building alone, and it was dark and he didn’t know what he was even looking for. This part of the building was now condemned and due to be torn down and covered over in the coming months. Static was mere feet from the entrance to the lab where the explosion had happened.

Some point after they left, it must have collapsed further, because now, the door was blocked a large chunk of the ceiling. He carefully moved the large pile aside with his powers and still could only force the door open part way. He carefully picked his way inside, and held up a hand, emitting his own light. He stared at the spot where she’d gone. The floor there was almost unnaturally clean, scorched and covered in a fine layer of soot, yes, but devoid of large debris or rubble.

Static skirted by this area, unwilling to get close, and moved over toward the remains of the control panel. Richie had explained that the child they saved had been hooked up to the machine that was obliterated. Specs and Trapper had given him several drugs and taken blood from him. Trapper had refused to speak on their plans even when it earned him a sentence of 20 years, and Specs was presumed dead. The boy was returned to his family, and had been successfully been shielded from the media by Batman.

Here, on what was left of the panel were several empty and broken test tubes in a rack, along with a burned notebook with illegible symbols. Static picked this up, and it crumbed further in his hand. He sighed, and was startled when he heard the sound echoed behind him. He whipped around, and saw no one there. Looking around, he amped up the wattage on his light, illuminating even the corners of the room. There was no one there.

Perhaps it had been an echo or simply the wind. There were many cracks in the walls after all.

_Virgil…_

A voice, he was sure… or not. But he heard the low sound and over the sound of his racing heart he listened hard for it to repeat. If it was a voice, it was a male voice. And the list of men who knew Static and Virgil to be one person was very, _very_ short.

Static whipped around again, “Who’s there!” He was now facing the spot where she died, and for just a moment, he hoped to see her there, smiling. A beacon of hope for him to turn to. She wasn’t there. Of course, she wasn’t. He bit his lip and swallowed the lump suddenly rising in his throat. He felt his lip tremble, and he stepped back.

He turned away, and wished he hadn’t come. He was too close, the tragedy still too fresh. When he closed his eyes, he thought he could hear her calling his name. He could practically feel her hugging him, her small hands running over his chest. When he opened his eyes however, he was faced with reality.

She was gone, and she would not be back. He took a step, intending to leave, and paused. His breath caught as he stared at the dark stain on the concrete and scorched linoleum. This is where Richie had laid waiting for him.

And with this Virgil lost it. He covered his face with his hands, and could not stop the tears. He dropped to his knees there in darkness for a while, just crying.

When he felt able, he took a few deep breaths and readied himself to head for the exit again, glancing uneasily at the stain again. Suddenly, there was a huge gust of air through the room, and it whipped through the cracks of the wall with groaning sounds like a great beast. The building gave a shake, and a part of the ceiling came down, folding over the room.

Static realized his mistake flying back to the station. He had been cut by something after all, and was bleeding rather badly from his right arm. He may even need stitches. For now, he’d removed his jacket and was pressing it to his wound.

When he got back to the station, he was feeling stupid and weak. He stumbled from his disk through the back door, and heard Richie scream. Another nightmare _…_ Static thought, as he limped to the main room. Sure enough, Richie was tossing and turning, but something was wrong. He was on the floor instead of the sofa and beside him was a dropped and shattered glass of soda. As Virgil approached, he started choking. “C-cant… breathe…” He wept, and clawed at one side of his face while he feebly clutched his own shirt. “Get… off me… Please… Virgil…”

Virgil moved across the room and put a hand on Richie’s shoulder. He shook him a bit, but he didn’t wake. He put his hands up as if to shield himself, he then pushed out at Virgil, trying to shove him away. Virgil was getting worried. He was usually able to wake Richie by now. Tired and aching, he whispered an apology to Richie, and sent a volt of electricity through Richie’s body.

Richie gasped and his whole body seized up. Then he gave a great gasp and jerked awake. He was gasping for breath and put a shaking hand to his throat. Then he focused on Virgil, and gasped again. “Virgil, your arm! What-” he winced.

Virgil sat back on his haunches and took a deep breath. “Take your time, Richie. I had to zap you to wake you up.”

Richie took a deep breath. “I-I’m okay. It wasn’t real. Let me look at your arm.”

Virgil nodded, and remained sitting on the floor while Richie went and retrieved the med kit they kept in the bathroom. Richie sat next to Virgil and they sat in silence while Richie stitched up his arm and made him sip water.

“After this we should get you something to eat, and then-”

Virgil reached out, and touched Richie’s face. “You scratched yourself pretty bad.” Richie winced and followed Virgil’s hand to his face. He looked surprised.

“I did? How?”

“Your nightmare.” Richie looked confused and stricken. “What was it about, Richie?” He gestured to the smashed glass. “What happened?”

“I fainted, I guess. I don’t…I heard…” He looked suddenly distressed. “Something’s wrong with me.”

“Something? Rich, you haven’t been sleeping. You’ve lost weight, and I mean, look at this place. I’m grateful for the upgrades, but you can’t run on “E” for miles like this and expect it to never catch up to you, man.”

_He’s right. You’re losing it, Richie. If he knew everything, he would abandon you._

Richie shook his head. What? Virgil would never do that. How could he think that? Still… “Y-you’re probably right. Where did you get this? Talon?”

“No, I... I ran into a weird creature the other day. Like a shadow, but not. And when it ran away from me it ran toward, um, Alva Labs.

Richie paused. “You saw it in the building? Who was it? Shadow…” Richie glanced at the pictures on the wall. “Ebon?”

Virgil shook his head. “No, I didn’t see it in the building, just heading in that direction. And I don’t think Ebon had anything to do with it. The way this thing moved… I’m not even sure it was ever human.”

“So you went into the lab, and the creature was in there?”

“No. Not that I saw. But it was unstable, and part of the ceiling came down when I went in the lab.”

Richie looked confused. “But I’ve seen you take a tank landing on top of you. How did you not stop it from cutting you?”

“I was… I was distracted.”

Richie thought he knew. “It’s her.” _It’s always her. It will always-_ Virgil shook his head, and covered his mouth with one hand, as if nauseous. With his other he grabbed Richie’s wrist.

“It was that stain.” He whispered. Richie’s eyes widened. Virgil gritted his teeth and buried his head in his hands. “There’s still a stain where you were laying.”

Richie touched his leg where the scars were. “I’m sorry, Virgil. I’m sorry I couldn’t sav-”

“Shut up. This… This isn’t anyone’s fault but Specs and Trapper and maybe Alva for having the gas in the first place. That’s what Black Canary has helped me see. Have you talked to her at all?”

“No.” Richie hung his head, and Virgil knew the conversation was over.

“I think there may be one other sighting of the creature, or something like it. I’m going to look for Ebon to see what he knows. Shadow man, shadow creatures. That has to be more than a coincidence.” He hoped for the victims at the hospital that it wasn’t. Ebon was the only lead he had at all right now.

“Or… listen, V, I’m losing it being cooped up all the time. I think that’s part of it.” _The other part is that you’re crazy_. He shook his head. “I think Gear needs to gear up.”

Virgil considered it. “I’ll make you a deal.”

Richie had expected this. He was prepared for it. “Okay.”

“You meet with Black Canary. At least once a week. You work out with me. And you have to make sure you eat.”

Richie closed his eyes. He’d expected the first condition, but he was finding it very hard to even agree to. But he had to. He knew he had to. “F-fine.”

Virgil looked relieved. He stood up, stretched, and winced again. He’d nearly forgotten his arm. “Urgh. I’m just going to change and grab a bite. I’ll shower at home. I’m tired.”

Richie stretched and stood also. “I guess I could eat. Just let me clean up this glass first.”

“I can get it.” Virgil offered. He was still regarding Richie with concern beyond what Richie thought was necessary if Virgil believed that it was indeed only nightmares plaguing him. Richie smiled, but otherwise ignored the offer and grabbed the broom. Virgil sighed and after he changed, sat down to wait.

As Richie swept up the glass, his mind was racing, as usual. He wasn’t crazy. _Or are you?_ Something had to be wrong. _Or something’s always been wrong with you._ He could doubt his sanity, sure, but he had to test it in every way he could think of to be sure. He would have to go there, and figure out what was happening. He thought briefly about asking Virgil for help. _You think he’ll believe you?_ Richie was sure he wouldn’t. He would need proof first, and his best shot at getting it was as Gear.

He didn’t have any sleeping disorders that he knew of, just lack of sleep. When he’d fainted, he’d been walking from the minifridge and it was as if he had been dragged suddenly backward down a long dark hallway. The next he knew he was in that nightmare again, and Daisy was angry. She had choked him, put a large clawed hand over his mouth and nose, and was smothering him. He hadn’t been able to breathe, and then Virgil had zapped him awake.

If Richie was right, he had fainted close to thirty minutes ago; in other words, about when Static had been in the Alva Labs. He felt his face and he could feel the welts he’d made, and scabs forming where he’d broken his skin. He had to know what they’d been testing there. He was sure it had to do with the horrific realization he’d made as Virgil had grabbed his wrist. The voice.

The inner voice he’d thought was his own- his doubts, his fears, his insecurity- had gone completely silent for just a moment as Virgil made contact. He had realized in that moment, that the voice was not his own.


	4. Putting it All Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Batman and Nightwing come to help the boys investigate the shadows, the illness, and the nightmares.

Virgil jogged to the police station early next morning feeling determined. He wasn’t entirely sure what he hoped to glean from his visit, but since he had next to nothing on Ebon’s location, he would take what he could get. Hence why he’d volunteered to bring his father’s girlfriend breakfast at the station.

Virgil approached the front desk, and holding up his bag of food, he asked for Officer Trina Kinsley. While he waited, he leaned against the wall, positioned to try and catch a look at the boards down the hall. He was distracted however when a familiar face came out of a side room with Officer Kinsley in tow.

She caught his eye, and with a face so much like Daisy’s, she smiled. Virgil was spellbound. How had it never occurred to him…? Would Daisy have also had a smile like that? Lined from years of smiles and laughter? “Hello, Virgil.”

Virgil snapped out of it. “Oh, uh, hello. Sorry I just came to drop this food off, then I got to go meet Richie.” He shoved the food to a taken aback Trina and made to leave.

“Virgil, please wait.” She turned to Trina and said, “I’ll finish the paperwork in a moment. Please.”

“Of course. I’ll leave it with the desk sergeant. Virgil, when you head out please let your dad know I’ll be by for dinner.”

Virgil nodded, and reluctantly followed Daisy’s mother as she went to sit down on a bench near the door. There was a moment of silence where she put her hand on his, and said, “It’s good to see you. I’m sorry it seems like it’s not mutual… but we miss you coming around the house.”

“No! I’m sorry… I just… didn’t know what I would say at first. Then, I wasn’t… I…” He hung his head. “I’m sorry I couldn’t save her.”

“There was nothing you could have done.”

“Yes, there was.”

“No, Virgil.” She glanced around. “There’s nothing you _or Static_ could have done.” Virgil looked at her in shock. She laughed. “We found a note when we were packing up some things in her room.” She reached up and patted his cheek. “You do such good work, but you have to know by now you can’t save everybody. I wish it was different too, but… She would want us to be happy, Virgil. That’s just who our Daisy is… was…”

Virgil couldn’t think what to say, so he just nodded. He stood. “I really do have to go.”

“Okay. Please feel free to come by, Virgil. We miss you, too.”

Virgil smiled sadly. “Yeah. I’ll try.”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gear strapped on his new visor. It looked much like the old one, but with the color scheme shifted just slightly, and he’d made it with a new, stronger alloy. It had been two and a half weeks since he and Virgil had struck the deal. He’d been to see Canary, as Virgil asked.

So far, their conversations had been stilted, awkward, and mostly consisted of Richie talking about his day. He carefully avoided anything that may lead to deeper conversations about feelings or indeed, anything that may lead to discussing the nightmares. He only had suspicions. The last thing he needed was for her to be distracting him and trying to convince him he was just exhausted or crazy. _But you are crazy._ He shook his head to clear it. No, I’m not. He told himself firmly.

“Ready?”

Gear turned to face Static with his hands on his hips. “Yup. Been ready.”

Static was leaning in the doorway with his arms crossed, mask already on. He smiled and pulled his disk from his pocket. It really looked like a crumpled ball of foil until he zapped it, and it came to life, hovering at knee height waiting for its rider.

Gear tapped the tip of his shoe in a specific pattern, and his rocket skates powered up. He hovered off the ground grinning. “Let’s go!”

Patrol was exhilarating, but uneventful for the most part until Gear’s visor detected a high heat signature incoming from the left, and dodged just as a fireball streaked passed his face.

“Hand it over, geezer, or the next one’s coming at your face.”

“Oh, Please, son, I need these. I’m on a fixed income! I can’t afford- ahh!”

Francis aka “Hotstreak” picked the little old man up by the collar snarling in his face. “Not my problem. I’m not your son, old man. Now hand over your wallet or-”

“Let him go Hotstreak.” Gear hovered above them, looking smug with his arms crossed.

Hotstreak narrowed his eyes at him, and let the man slip from his grip as he turned slowly to face Gear, a predatory grin spreading over his face. “Lost a few pounds while you were away, Geek? Not sure what you’re planning to do with those scrawny arms.”

Gear faltered for a moment under the visor, but Hotstreak didn’t see it. He reached behind his back as Hotstreak readied a fireball to lob in his direction, stalking out into the street to get a closer target.

“I have plenty I can do. I’ve not been sitting around doing nothing, you know.”

Hotstreak lobbed the fireball, and Gear threw his gadget. It exploded as the fire met it. Fire retardant foam engulfed Hotstreak, who let out a frightened noise, as he was knocked back onto the sidewalk.

Gear landed on the street beside him. Hotstreak struggled to his feet and approached Gear in a fighting stance. “I’m gonna roast you, Nerd!” He made to chuck a fireball right in Gears face.

Nothing happened. Instead he stumbled forward and fell to his knees. He was breathing like he’d run a mile. Gear stood, hands on hips again, and said, “Sorry, but your flame will be out for the next few hours. New mix that attacks the part of you producing the fire. You’ll be safely back in juvee before you can even create a spark.”

Static landed a short distance away and clapped Gear on the shoulder with a smile. He looked around at the police as the approached, then back to Hotstreak. “Do you know where Ebon is?”

“Huh? None of your business.”

“It’s important, Hotstreak. Francis. Please.”

“Bite me.”

Static let out a frustrated groan. He glanced at Gear, then sighed. “Look, I’m not sure exactly what’s going on. All I know is that there are people in the hospital from all over Dakota. They’re having hallucinations and insomnia, and the hospitals are already overwhelmed. Someone’s poisoning them. All of them, and it’s more by the day. Kids even. The only witness puts a tall _shadow man_ at the scene.”

Hotstreak was still panting and looked at the scattered wallet and foam around him. “I ain’t seen him in a couple weeks. As far as I know, no one has. Last anyone saw him he was planning to break into Alva Labs and see if he could get at any of that bang baby gas that was left. We all just assumed he got caught.”

Richie and Static exchanged glances as Hotstreak was hauled away by police.

“Great job! First day back was a success, huh?”

Gear grinned again. “Yeah. I suppose so, huh?” He checked his watch. Time to head home.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night, Richie was tossing and turning again, and gasped as he awoke. He was laying on the blow-up mattress beside Virgil’s bed. He sat up, looking at Virgil’s sleeping face. Turned toward him with his lips parted ever so slightly, he was illuminated from above his head by the moonlight spilling into his room. 

Richie collapsed back onto the mattress taking deep breaths and trying to calm himself. The nightmares had calmed way down since he came to live with the Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins attributed this to being out of such a hateful home. Richie suspected otherwise.

He reached up and peeled the sticky patch from his forehead. He knew it must have collected enough data for tonight. He looked at the open monitor on the desk and saw exactly what he had expected to see. He would look at Backpack in the morning to confirm it in more detail.

Virgil shifted in his sleep, and Richie spared him a glance before hefting himself from the floor. He crept down the stairs, and poured himself a glass of water in the kitchen.

Richie glanced over the front page of the newspaper as he stood by the window, and looked over the headline: Dakota Hospitals Overwhelmed: Gotham Billionaire to the Rescue? He read over the story at lightning speed. Bruce Wayne was contributing money, and his company was contributing supplies. Despite security issues in his own company as of late, he would be coming to Dakota to oversee the setup of several temporary hospitals across Dakota as the two they already had been not enough.

Richie placed the paper back on the table as he leaned back in his chair. He looked at the clock above the stove. Barely 3am. He jumped as a shadow passed over the room. He whipped around, lunging from his seat and staring at the window. Heart pounding, he backed away from the table, silently calling for Backpack.

He heard Backpack beep somewhere back toward the stairs and started to move toward it, eyes still on the window, when his back came up against something hard. He started to turn around and opened his mouth to yell for Virgil when he was grabbed and his mouth covered by a large, gloved hand. “Shh,” Someone hissed in his ear. “Ow!” Backpack zapped the intruder in the leg and they loosened their grip just enough for Richie to rip away from their hold. He was caught up again almost immediately, however, and pinned against the table with his arms twisted behind his back and his mouth covered once again. He signaled backpack again, bidding him to call for Virgil. He suddenly perceived a figure approaching from the front as well, and a wave of relief crashed over him as Batman stood by the table, looking at the newspaper as well.

Richie was released, and looked around to see the man from the hospital behind him- Nightwing. He sighed and collapsed into a kitchen chair. “You both scared me.”

“Obviously.”

“Rich!?” Virgil came into the room, ready at first for a fight-despite the fact he was only wearing basketball shorts, then saw who Richie was talking to.

“Sorry. V. I didn’t realize when I had Backpack call you.”

“I didn’t realize he could call me directly. It was weird. Like our little trackers that only I can hear.”

“It’s new. You know… just in case.” _Just in case you get stuck again…_ like an idiot. Richie wasn’t sure if that one was the voice or not.

There was a pause, and Batman beckoned Virgil to sit with Richie. He did, and so did Nightwing.

Batman held up the newspaper. “What do you know so far?”

Richie and Virgil looked at each other. “Not much,” Richie said with a shrug. “We only just started looking into it.”

Batman looked at them expectantly.

“Well, they think someone is poisoning people and that’s why people are getting sick. Best we can tell it may have something to do with Ebon, a bang baby who--”

“We know who he is.” Nightwing supplied.

“He’s missing.” Virgil shrugged. “No one has seen him. We’ve tried asking his usual gang- Hotstreak, Talon, and the rest- but _no one_ knows where he is. He was last known to be planning to break into Alva Labs to see if he could get at what was left of the gas, but no one knows if he made it that far.”

“Yeah, but he might have been seen around Dakota since then. We aren’t sure.” Richie called Backpack, who scuttled over and sat upright to display the information they were discussing. Case after case of poisoned citizen scrolled by, with their medical status displayed prominently over their personal backgrounds. “The only sightings we can come up with though, line up with where people have been poisoned, so we think it may be related.” Richie paused the scrolling and brought up two pictures. The man who Virgil had been unable to visit - and who, Virgil saw with a sinking feeling- had since died of a heart attack while in his coma. The second photo was of a younger man, who had been coherent long enough to give a description matched by a witness: A tall man with white eyes. “We have no proof of that though, because we still don’t know _how_ people are being poisoned, or what with.”

“Pause. Bring up the second man’s profile again,” Batman said. Richie did, and Batman bade he pull up more information on the man before he began to speak.

“We’ve been following a line of theft at Wayne industries and other tech companies and stores.” Virgil thought of the game store, but did not interrupt and let Batman speak. “The first hit was the same lab Specs stole his weapon’s tech from. The intruder or intruders stole large machinery by seemingly absorbing them into the floor- into the shadows on the floor- and parts that when added together--” He brought up the list on Backpack’s screen as well, split screen with the bio from before.

Richie gasped.

Nightwing looked sideways at him. “You guessed what it is?”

“I’ve built one before. Well, Braniac did when he was in my body.”

Batman nodded. “This equipment would allow whoever has it to build a larger version of the disks that allowed Braniac to control the Justice League. This looks more powerful however, more,”

“Permanent,” Richie whispered with a chill. He sat back in his chair, staring at the table.

Batman nodded. Virgil looked between them, and took Richie’s hand before he spoke, “Why did you want Richie to bring up that second file?”

Batman answered him by bringing up a second photo beside the first. Virgil’s eyes widened.

The boy they had saved the night Daisy died was pictured with the man in the hospital. “This boy, Tavian Rhodes was the witness you were talking about. They were visiting a lab where the boy was getting tested when they were attacked. The boy hid and his older brother, Adrian here took the brunt of the attack. Video from the scene,” Batman pulled it up on screen, “shows the creature appear and go for the equipment. Then it seems to realize someone is there, and luckily Adrian managed to hide Tavian before it was too late, but as it is he’s in the hospital now, and may not have much time.”

“What was Tavian getting tested for?” Richie asked breathlessly.

“Best we can tell he’s a second-generation bang baby.”

“From the second bang?”

“No, like, he was born. His mother was a bang baby named Emily. She hid it from everyone including her husband and older son until it came out that Tavian was born one as well around a year ago,”

“Not until a couple months before…” Richie glanced at Virgil, “What are his powers? What took so long for people to notice?”

“We aren’t sure. The facility he was getting tested in though is one owned by Wayne industries. We test for the mutated DNA and try to use it to help come up with a management plan- whether that mean personalized suppressants or just using the results to inform lifestyle changes.”

Virgil was surprised. “There’s a place like that in Dakota?”

Batman smiled. “Its new. This facility was the first of its kind, and with the equipment stolen, it’s going to be down for at least another year.”

“So, what’s the next step?”

“Well, first we wanted to see what you knew and compare. Next, we’re going to visit one of the burgled labs as Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson to see what we can glean that way. Virgil, I think you and Richie should see what leads you can track down on Ebon. We’ll meet back here around dinnertime and see what we’ve all learned.

Virgil and Richie nodded and then whipped around as there was a soft gasp behind them. Virgil and Richie turned to see Virgil’s father in the doorway staring, shocked, at Batman and Nightwing in his kitchen. Nightwing stood and offered his hand. “Mr. Hawkins?”

“Uh, yes.”

“Nice to meet you. You have a great couple of young men here.”

Robert Hawkins still looked confused, but he nodded. “Thanks.”

Batman silently handed Mr. Hawkins a fresh mug of coffee as he passed him into the hall.

“Where are you guys going?” Virgil stood as he asked the question.

“Out the way we came in, Virgil. When we come back later I’m installing a new security system.”

“Oh, uh, thanks. See you.”

“Holy shit.” Robert said vaguely as he plopped down beside Richie. “You alright, Rich?”

Richie snapped to attention. He smiled. “Yeah. Just tired.” He glanced uneasily at the back window. If Batman and Nightwing had come in the front door, who had been outside?

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Static and Gear arrived outside Alva industries. “You sure you’re okay with this, Rich?”

“Yeah of course,” He started to move inside when Static grabbed his arms and held him back.

“Give me a second. I’m not.”

They were still. Richie looked up at the tarp covered building, and thought about the last time he’d been here. He shivered. He suddenly felt cold, and stepped a half step back from the entrance. After a moment, Virgil took a deep breath, and together, they moved into the building. Virgil let the way, and Richie followed with a hand on Virgil’s shoulder. They passed the end of the hall then led to the wrecked wing of the building and instead moved to the stairs that led down to sublevel.

They soon came to a door that wasn’t on the blueprints Backpack had downloaded. They stopped and Richie squeezed passed Virgil in the narrow hall to look at the lock on the door. “This is new.”

“So, safe to say someone is down there.”

Backpack plugged into the wall and they waited. And waited. “What’s going on?”

“Hacking is harder than it looks in the movies, and this lock has a lot of layers.”

“I’m going to call Batman and let him know. We were just supposed to look so I don’t know if he wants us breaking in right now.”

“Good point.” Virgil moved away down the hall, and like getting caught in a sudden downpour, Richie was overcome, and dragged before Nightmare Daisy as she screamed at him. There was as much fear as fury in her face, and it made her visage even more terrifying.

Virgil returned to the door to find Richie slumped against the door, shivering and despondent. His eyes were wide and he looked horrified. Virgil ran to him, and shook him. “Gear!” There was no reaction except for Richie to tense up under his hands. “Richie!”

“Vir…gil…” Richie clearly couldn’t see him. He probably didn’t hear him either. He was calling out. In his panic, Virgil was looking around, wondering what to do until he remembered the last time Richie was in so deep a “Sleep”. He took a steadying breath, placed his hands on Richie’s arms and shocked him. Richie’s back arched, his every muscle seemed to constrict and then release. He fell limp, and Virgil was the sole thing keeping him upright. Virgil took his pulse to make sure he hadn’t caused a heart attack or something.

Virgil gathered Richie into his arms even as he panted, trying to catch his breath. Virgil used his power to pull his disk out of his pocket, and hopped on to carry Richie back up the stairs as Backpack scuttled up the stairs behind them.

“What the hell was that!?” Virgil demanded as Richie finally opened his eyes. His communicator chirped and he started to pull away to answer it. Richie grabbed him, and pulled him closer. Virgil let Richie lean against his chest as he answered it. “Sorry, Nightwing, Richie… collapsed. I don’t know what happened yet. He’s awake, but he’s really shaky. I had to shock him out of it.”

“Is he alright?” Nightwing spoke quietly, and Virgil knew he was in civilian clothes somewhere crowded. Richie was calming down and using Virgil for help, he climbed to his feet.

“Sorry. I didn’t know… that would happen,” Richie said.

“What do you mean?”

“Static.” His attention was called back to Nightwing. “Bruce said head this way. It’s safer to try again in a group after we’ve had a chance to try scoping it out with radar.”

Virgil nodded in the affirmative and disconnected. He turned to Richie, and waited.

“I’ve,” Richie swallowed. “I’ve been having nightmares… that I think may not be… nightmares.” He looked up at Virgil and cringed at the look of utter confusion there.

“What does… what does that mean, Richie?”

“I see her,” he stopped and bit his lip. He was very sore from the convulsion that had followed the shock. He leaned on the wall for support to stay upright. Then he gave up and sank down to sit on the stairs. Virgil dipped with him, kneeling next to him- almost over him in this very narrow space. “Daisy. I see her in my nightmares. At first… It was just the same. Over and over and over. I just watched myself watch her die.” He choked on the emotion welling in his throat, and refused to meet Virgil’s eyes.

“Then… She would hurt me… and tell me horrible things….”

“Rich…”

“I deserved it.” There was silence. Richie hovered of the edge of speech, unsure whether to proceed, and then he took the plunge before he lost his nerve. “Whenever I had those bad dreams I never felt rested. And then the voice… when I was awake and especially when I was tired, I would hear it saying horrible things. Things about things I’m afraid of. Things I was thinking anyway, but it was always so much worse… when that voice said I wasn’t good enough or that you should hate me… I agreed with… what it said. It wasn’t until. That time it came for me when I was awake,” Richie laughed bitterly, “The last time you shocked me. I didn’t realize until then that the voice wasn’t mine.”

“Why didn’t you say anything!? Richie!?”

“I wasn’t sure,” Richie said defensively. “I had no proof.” He pointed to Backpack. Now I might.” Virgil’s jaw was set. “Why do you look mad? I mean, are you going to tell me I don’t sound crazy? How was I supposed--”

“I don’t know. Maybe because after all the talking we keep doing, you keep putting yourself in danger and refusing to take care of yourself.”

“Virgil, what was I supposed to do? I-I just said the voice wasn’t mine. The dreams probably aren’t mine. I’m not even sure I actually sl--”

“You didn’t know that when they were happening! You never once told me that it was that bad! I would wake you up from a nightmare and you would refuse to talk about it.”

“I didn’t want to worry you,” Richie muttered. “You already thought I was too pathetic to work as Gear as it was, so,”

“I never thought that! I never thought you were pathetic! Don’t put words in my mouth!”

Richie flinched, wide eyed, and finally his eyes snapped up toward Virgil’s. Blue eyes held brown for a moment, then Richie averted his gaze. “I’m sorry.” Then Richie felt something surge in him also, “They’re all about her.”

“What?”

“All my nightmares are her! She’s a fucking monster in my nightmares!”

“Rich…She wasn’t like that. You have to…”

“You see!? You’re so stuck on what she was. How was I supposed to tell you before what she’s like in my head?”

“You could have told me, Richie. We could have talked about it.”

“Yeah? About what? About how much she hurt me? How it just got worse and worse and worse? Or how about how it’s my own fault, and the nightmares were probably just me feeling guilty that I let your girlfriend die!?”

They stood there, staring at each other. Richie wiped furiously at tears in his eyes, and Virgil dropped his gaze to the floor.

Virgil sighed. “Come on, let’s get going. We’ll talk about this later.”

“Yeah, right.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They arrived to a scene of chaos at the lab. A dozen people were running from the building, and screaming.

“What’s going on!?” Static called to a passerby.

She paused and started to stammer an answer when three floors up, the glass windows shattered and a figure was flung out into the air. Virgil threw out an arm and slowed the man’s fall with his power. Richie rocketed up alongside Virgil and surveyed the scene inside as Virgil lowered the man to the ground floor.

Inside, Bruce Wayne was dodging and weaving around a dark blobby, creature. It was knobbly, hunched, and though much bigger than Bruce it was also of much less substance. It lashed out at Bruce, who spotted Richie over his shoulder, and ran full tilt toward the broken window. Gear gasped as he realized a second before it happened and braced to catch this large man midair.

He managed it, and the creature reached for them also. Gear’s hands full, Bruce took a shock cap- a capsule of stored energy that exploded with a flash and a zap- from Gear’s belt and threw it at the creature. It screeched, and sank into the floor, taking with it, a large computer console.

At the ground floor, Static was kneeling beside the man who’d fallen. There was a rather large cut in his arm, and he lay shivering and sweating in Static’s arms. “I know these symptoms…” Static whispered.

“Who is he?” Gear asked.

“Nightwing.”

“Really?”

Bruce put a hand to Dick’s cheek. “How fast can you get him to a hospital?”

“Very,”

“Go. Then change into your civvies and meet me back here.”

Static was off, zooming away toward one of the temp locations.

“What did you learn?”

“Something is definitely going on in the basement. There’s a super thick security door not on the map with crazy security and the walls round it are reinforced.”

Bruce nodded. “Go get back in your civilian clothes too, then go stay with Dick at the hospital.”

Richie nodded and took off. Why was Virgil ordered back, and Richie ordered to stay away?

Virgil had changed and was now by Dick’s side, waiting for him to wake up.

Finally he opened his eyes a crack “Virgil?”

“I’m here. Mr. Wayne is on his way.”

Dick smiled. Then he started to shiver again. Sweat beaded over his forehead. “So hot.”

“What happened? How did you get infected?”

“I pushed a woman out of the way- reporter that snuck in as a janitor. As far as I could tell, the shadow passed over me like.. like a ghost. Kind of went through me. Then I felt something inside me… leave with it. It completely wiped me. If it hadn’t still been there when I opened my eyes, I would have forgotten what it looked like right away. Even now…” He shivered. “The memory of the whole thing… is hazy.”

Dick coughed, and Virgil’s eyes widened as a small puff of blackish smoke escaped his lips. Virgil thought of the creature retreating from the shock caps. Then he placed a hand on Dick’s chest.

“What are you--?”

“I want to try something. Hold on.” He looked cautiously over his shoulder for a nurse or doctor.

He started slow, a low buzz, then increased the charge. Dick suddenly started coughing violently, and Virgil almost pulled away, until he saw more of the black dust- or whatever it was- escaping. He gave it another moment, and Dick drew in a great gasp and sat up, staring at Virgil. The nurse moved to them quickly, and Virgil moved out of his way.

As the nurse left, Dick sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, and rubbing his chest with his uninjured arm. “How did you know that would work?”

Virgil explained himself as Dick dressed quickly, and beckoned for Virgil to follow as he crept out of the room. “Well, that’s good to know. We’ll have to send a message out to the doctors treating patients to try controlled shocks.” Dick was already on his phone, apparently doing just that. They were in the spiral stairwell, moving quickly downward- and still had about a million more flights to go. Virgil looked up and down the stairs, then threw his disk out in the gap in the middle. He and Dick hopped on the disk and Virgil gave them a slightly faster descent.

“What did you learn?” Dick asked Virgil. He told Dick about the door, and about Richie’s attack.

“That’s… It has to be related!”

“What?”

“We found out the boy’s- Tavian’s power. He can slip into people’s dreams. Or something more like astral projection. He can leave his body and pull people out of theirs to his plane while their body appears to sleep. Apparently, he accidentally kept doing it to his brother, and the brother kept falling asleep during the day because he wasn’t actually sleeping at night.”

Virgil’s breath caught. “That’s… I think that’s what he was describing… and I just wasn’t…” He thought of how he’d yelled at Richie.

“But Richie hasn’t been falling asleep all over the place, has he?”

“Not anymore.” He thought hard, trying to remember. “Not since… not since he moved in with us, I think. At least not as bad. But why?” They reached the ground floor and Virgil waited while Dick Grayson disrobed and Nightwing suited up. He’d left his suit at the station, and would need to go back to change.

“I’ll bet it’s you.”

“What?”

“You’ve been able to drive off the shadow inside me and it retreated from the shock Bruce threw at it. If it’s connected, then whatever was harming Richie… it may just be repelled by you- your magnetic field.”

“Wai- wait! Wait!” Virgil’s blood ran cold. Body take over tech, nightmares that pull your mind from your body, and... “and… It’s Daisy…” He whispered. “It has to be. The bang baby gas got her when she was next to a bunch of that kid’s DNA, and she’s been turned into… something… and…” He was putting pieces together and then he was speeding for the exit. Nightwing sprinted to catch up and hopped on behind Virgil as he was already calling Batman.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Richie moved into the interior of the gas station feeling physically drained and sore. Barely had time to remove backpack before he heard a noise behind him. It was not in his mind this time, but it was still unmistakable- that whisper. Richie removed his helmet with shaking hands, and slowly turned around. Daisy was there, with that celestial glow that was somehow mixed with an almost tangible looking darkness creeping in from her extremities. Richie stumbled back away from her, and she followed. “Y-you aren’t here!” Richie tried to sound confident, but his voice cracked and betrayed his fear.

_Aren’t I?_ Daisy looked at her hand. Then she fixed her gaze on Richie and it was like he was trapped. He could barely think. His chest felt like it was being constricted. He gripped his own hair and sank to his knees, tearing his gaze from hers. He shook his head.

“You aren’t- ah!”

He felt his face grabbed and turned toward her. _Don’t be scared. Richie…_ Richie paused. Could it be..? When she said his name, she had sounded like herself. He looked up at her, and was seized again in her gaze. Her face was horrible, distorted, unsettling, and she looked so angry. _Richie… Richie, you know what I want._

“Y-you want…” He shook his head. “No! I can’t!”

_I can help you, Richie._

“No, you’re lying.” He felt her move around him, almost weightless, he felt the chill of death from her. _No!_ he thought _, I don’t feel anything. She isn’t here! Or is she?_ She brushed her weightless fingers down his arms and he felt his muscles relax. _No!_ He jerked back to consciousness and tried to pull away. “Virgil…” He reached feebly for his shock vox. When had he dropped it? Then she slid her arms around his chest and her voice was in his ear.

_He won’t come, Richie._ Richie gasped. _I’ve seen in your mind Richie, don’t you remember?_ Richie was trembling as his mind was going blank. The world was dissolving around him. _He doesn’t feel the way you do. He never will._ There was only her voice. _He’ll never love you._


	5. Love, Loved, None of it is Fair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They've come this far. There's no turning back, and there's everything to lose if they can't find a way.

Virgil and Nightwing burst into the room just as Richie was getting swallowed up by the spiraling shadow. “NO!” Richie turned to him, his face slack and his eyes half lidded. He reached for Virgil. Virgil lunged for Richie, and reached out for him with his power. Even his literal lightning speed was not fast enough, and Richie vanished before his eyes. “Rich!” He slammed his fists upon the floor.

“Virgil, get a hold of yourself! Focus!” Nightwing gripped Virgil’s shoulder and wheeled him around. “Calm down. We know where they may be taking him. Batman is already on his way there. Suit up so we can follow.”

Virgil felt numb. He nodded, and dressed quickly. He realized halfway through that his hands were shaking. He gritted his teeth. Nightwing was right. He had to focus. He was no good to Richie like this; like he had been no good to Daisy in his panic to save her. He had to focus.

But if he failed, and he lost Richie to Daisy’s ghost… or whatever it was… what would he do? He put on his mask and tugged on his gloves. He had no time to think of that now. He threw out his disk toward the door and mounted it with a running start. He grabbed Nightwing’s hand as he passed and pulled him onto the disk beside him.

“This thing is handy.” Nightwing said as he looked down over the city streaking past below them. “Beats running and swinging across buildings, that’s for sure.”

“No heating though. And it gets cold up here. I’m jealous of the batwing to be honest.”

Nightwing shrugged. “Cheaper fuel I’ll bet.”

Static patted his stomach. “Just the cost of a burger or two most days.” Nightwing chuckled, and Static also managed a bit of a smile before the wreck of the Alva building came into view, and his heart dropped like a stone. He sincerely hoped they were right, and that they would find a lab and Richie-alive- beneath the building.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------

Batman, Nightwing, and Virgil reached the door, and Batman silently motioned the other two back as he affixed a small device to the door. “Richie said it was a crazy complex lock.” Virgil said.

There was a small _boom_ and Batman kicked in what was left of the door. “This is faster,” he said, as he stalked down the stairs.

Virgil nodded. “Yeah, can’t argue with that.”

They made it to a second door, probably the original that came with the building.

Nightwing held up the scanner in his forearm band and aimed it at the door. Before them was projected an image of the room inside. Along the back and right wall were many geometric silhouettes- the stolen equipment- with a blank area of wall in the middle. Nightwing switched to heat readings, and in the middle of the blank space was a figure with arms out wide. Some large cold signature swirled around it. Roving the room were many other cold signatures, in varying shapes and sizes. One last heat signature was in the corner. It was a silhouette Static recognized. “I think that’s Ebon.” He whispered.

Batman nodded. He pointed to the figure in the middle. “This one must be Richie.”

“I’ll bet the rest are the shadow things.”

Batman looked again at the heat signatures. “Static, you go directly for Richie. Short the machine, zap him, do whatever you have to; get him out of there. He pointed to two big ones. Nightwing, you and I go for these. Then Nightwing secures Ebon while I shut down the machine.”

Nightwing and Static nodded.

Batman placed another explosive on the door, and Static and Nightwing retreated a few feet, ready to move.

_BOOM_

They moved as one as they surged into the room, and then were almost immediately thrown off track. The layout of the room was as they expected. Machines lined almost every wall, and in each of the four corners were huge tanks like water towers with panels of dials and valves on the front of each. One was ruined and broken. Virgil assumed these had been the containers that held the bang baby gas. Near one of these tanks was a person sized glass tank. Inside, Ebon was trapped, he lay against the wall, and didn’t even flinch at the sudden rush of noise. On the middle of the far wall there was a sphere of that same black mass that swirled as if in a high wind. No sooner had they observed all this however, then they were set upon.

They were met by an attack that Static recognized. A beam of light struck him and he was thrown clear through the wall and landed at a point nearly halfway back up the stairs. Groaning he looked back through the hole to see a mass of black shadows, undulating and writhing like the creature from before. Suddenly it all became eerily still for a moment as a quiet laughter sounded in the room. If grew louder, and louder, and then suddenly, the shadows gathered and formed the shape of a man- Virgil thought he may recognize it, and then it spoke.

“Welcome back, little lightning bug. Batman. And I don’t know who this guys is, but it doesn’t really matter.”

Specs. Virgil had assumed him dead, and cursed himself as much as Specs as he charged up for a shot. “Where is Richie!?” he demanded.

The shadow of Specs shrugged and Virgil perceived a smile in his voice as he said, “Wouldn’t you like to know? Maybe dead already.” Virgil couldn’t hold his temper. He blasted the electric ball of energy back through the hole. It hit, and crackled across the entirety of the shadow mass. It diminished in size as Specs screamed in apparent agony. Virgil propelled himself from the staircase and back into the room. Batman was already at a keyboard, typing away, trying to shut down the equipment.

Nightwing was sprinting toward Ebon, and called over his shoulder to Virgil. “Get to that hotspot! Now! That’s where Richie is!”

Virgil started to move, then he paused when suddenly the mass started to move again as Specs started to laugh again. Suddenly a new section of the machine started up, and Ebon let out a scream as his form, his essence was pulled from him into the sides of the machine. The shadow mass regained its size, seemingly rejuvenated by Ebon, who one again sank to the floor, unconscious. A giant blob separated from the mass, and came down upon Batman. He leapt out of the way, and threw a bat-a -rang at it. It went off and turned out to be a taser of sorts. The shadow groaned and disappated.

The laugh rang out again. “Is that all you have, Batman? It’s not all I have.” Great globs of the shadow rose from all over the mass. Static charged up again, and fired. To his shock, the attack almost hit, then every bit of electricity suddenly rerouted toward a light that has appeared at the top of the sphere. The light faded somewhat, and Daisy was there.

“D-Daisy…”

She looked down upon them, and for a moment focused on Virgil before she lifted her hands. The darkness jumped to her skin, wrapping around her arms and settled- almost- like scorch marks upon her skin. She closed her eyes, and sank back into the sphere. At the same time, the blobs in the air fell to the ground and sprang back up, turning into creatures like the ones Virgil had seen before.

Batman and Nightwing jumped into action, both pulled electrified weapons from their toolbelts and set about dispatching more of the monsters, trying to clear paths back to Ebon and the control panels. Virgil was rooted to one spot a moment more before Batman shouted beside him, “Go!”

Virgil snapped to attention, and ran for the sphere. His path was blocked by the shadow creature, and he diverted immediately. He zapped a creature about to attack Nightwing from behind and another right in front of Ebon’s tank. Virgil leapt, and pulled himself on top of the tank, and like he was using his disk, he lifted the entire top of the tank from the ground. It pulled from its wires and powered down as the glass shattered.

Virgil used the platform to move to the top of the room. The shadow spiked upward, trying to reach him. Virgil protected himself with his own sphere of electricity. He hovered directly above the sphere, and looked back to Batman and Nightwing. Batman was covering Nightwing as he retreated toward the door with Ebon. They couldn’t be heard over the roar of noise coming from Specs and the creature in the room, but Batman motions emphatically for Virgil to go.

He nodded, and despite his fear of what he may find inside, he used his power to push through the sphere. When he felt the resistance give, and felt he had a safe path in, he jumped.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Virgil hadn’t been prepared for the brightness inside. It was like a cage that held all the shadows at bay just beyond reach of everything inside. It felt warm in here, but there was a lingering sense of unease in his chest as he looked at the shadows creep across the walls and floor. He shielded his eyes as they adjusted, and took a few tentative steps, reaching out, hoping he may come in contact with Richie somewhere in here. Instead, he came up against some force like two magnets repelling one another. He flinched, and snapped his attention on the person before him.

She seemed, somehow, even less substantive than the shadows outside. Daisy, beautiful as ever, seemed almost as surprised as he was. “Still can’t touch you… even in here.” But, somehow, she looked wrong. The scorch marks creeping over his skin were eerie and felt to Virgil more like the shadow outside than scars from a tragic end.

She looked at their almost linked hands and then looked up at him with an incredulous and almost hopeful smile. She stepped- no, glided closer to him. She brought her hand up to touch his cheek. It didn’t quite make contact, but he knew she could if she tried. He wondered why she held back. He was transfixed. He’d been wishing for this. He hooked his thumb under his mask, and pulled it off.

“I can’t believe I never realized you are Static, Virgil.” Her voice was light and sweet, but also a bit echoing like it was coming from the other end of a long hollow place.

He looked up as his mask slipped off, and saw Richie. He was suspended with his arms out wide, held in place by creeping tendrils of shadow. They were also creeping around his neck, over his mouth and up his legs. His suit was ripped open from the front, and wires attached to his chest and forehead. An IV was imbedded in his arm. His eyes were barely open, and from where he stood, Virgil couldn’t even see if he was breathing.

He hesitated for just a moment, before he slipped past Daisy, and moved toward Richie. He reached out and put a hand on Richie’s cheek. He was relieved when Richie reacted to his touch with a soft groan, even if it came with a pained expression. He started to reach toward Richie’s hand, and suddenly found himself repelled nearly to the edge of their cage of light, chest aching where it was struck, and suddenly short of breath.

Gasping, he looked up to see Richie in pain. Daisy hovered above him. Her smile gone. Her face was calm as she dragged her nails- her claws- down Richie’s back. He arched away from her, eyes wide and screaming under the shadow gag. She gripped his hair and pulled him back, exposing his neck. The scorch marks crept further over her skin, ever closer to her heart. It crept over Richie’s as well, and Virgil saw the bruising it left there.

“Daisy, stop!” 

She looked sideways at Virgil and she tugged Richie’s hair one last time before letting go. Richie’s chest was heaving.

“Daisy, you need to let me get him out of here. Specs is trying to take over Richie’s body. “

“I know.”

“You know!?”

“I do. He gets out of here. I get payback.” She smiled at him.

“Payback?”

“Payback for leaving her for dead,” A deeper, more menacing voice intruded and it came from the shadow cast upon the wall behind Richie. A voice Virgil recognized. One that had whispered to him just before a building had come down upon his head.

“Specs?!”

“Oh, good guess. How do I look?” The shadow spread its arms wide, looming over all of them. The eyes opened. Stark white, and glowing. Similar to Ebon, for sure, probably even derived from him through the equipment outside. “I know I’m not much to look at now. I’m even less than my pets outside, but soon,” the black tendrils wound further up Richie’s arms, “I’ll be born again.”

Virgil took a shot at Specs, and the Shadow chuckled as it split into two, allowing the shot to crackle across the wall between them. Virgil, enraged, made to fire again, and this time, the shot was blocked when Daisy moved in front of Specs. She put out a hand, and the shadows slipped from her hand up her arms for just a moment. The electricity made contact and she absorbed it into herself, seemingly unharmed.

Specs laughed. “Thanks Dais.” Daisy turned and slashed at the wall with her claws. The shadow hurriedly squashed and slithered further to the edge of their cage. “Sorry.”

“I… I don’t understand, Daisy. You’re working with Specs? Why? Payback? For what!?”

“For letting me die. Richie just turned around and left me there. HE LET ME DIE!”

“No, he didn’t! We’ve seen the security footage. He had no time to do anything! This is all Spec’s and Trapper’s fault, so why are you helping him now!?

“Because it’s all I have, Virgil. After the explosion, we were both reduced to almost nothing. If Specs hadn’t taken over Ebon’s body and his powers he would have faded away. If he hadn’t fed that power into me,” She looked at her blackened hands. “I would have evaporated.”

“But… you know how insane this is! He only saved you to use you.”

“I know, Virgil, I’m not stupid. Sandman- Tavian- was just a guinea pig. Do you know what for?”

“No.” Virgil trained his eyes on Richie, making sure he was still breathing. Watching him for signs his condition may be worsening. “Do I even want to know?”

“Maybe not. The short version is that the point was to extract bang baby DNA and replicate those powers in another person.”

“That’s insane.”

“It would have worked. That’s kind of what we’re doing here. It only took a few modifications to make the machine ready for our purpose. When the machine is ready, I’ll pull Richie’s mind from his body. I’m strong enough, and Richie is weak enough to me that I can do it now, even when Richie is awake. Then Specs will use the machine to take over Richie’s empty body. He’ll keep his powers taken from Ebon, Richie’s smarts, and his own mind.”

“That’s insane…!” Virgil was shocked. She looked like Daisy, but the Daisy he knew would never… with such callousness… “What do you even gain? What would happen to Richie?’

“All this,” She lifted her hand, and a tendril of darkness curled from the ceiling and down around her finger. “All this that keeps me here will be under _my_ control without Specs. I’ll be able to exist, at least. Richie…” She turned and gripped Richie’s face. “Richie will fade without a body. He’ll disappear, like I almost did.” Her claws dug into his cheeks and blood pooled there. She paused at the sight, and pulled away.

Virgil stared as she released him. He couldn’t attack. She could absorb it, Specs could dodge it, and he couldn’t risk hitting Richie trying to catch the other two in a wide shot by surprise. He had to appeal to her somehow, and hope enough of the Daisy he knew was still inside to hear him.

“I… I can’t let you, Daisy.”

“You can’t stop me.”

“I can, and I will. I may not be able to take Richie directly from in here, but I can definitely go back outside and destroy your machine from out there.”

“If you did I could just kill Richie, and then what was the point?” As she spoke, the darkness slipped up from Richie’s mouth over his nose as well. He screamed and jerked, shaking his head, trying to get it off.

“Alright! I get it!” Richie’s every muscle strained as he tried to draw breath. “Stop!” Richie was allowed to breathe again, and he whimpered as he desperately caught his breath. Virgil closed his eyes briefly, silently apologizing to Richie for even thinking to test his boundaries like this.

“You look like you’re in pain, too, Virgil. Am _I_ breaking _your_ heart now? Disappointed?”

“Yeah… you could say that.” Virgil ran a hand down his face and gave a frustrated grunt. “I spoke to your mom a couple weeks ago.”

Daisy drifted behind Richie, rested her hands on his shoulders, and trailed her nails slowly up and down his neck. “So?”

“She misses you. Have you tried to visit her?”

“Visit? They only ‘visits’ she can make are when she rips a mind from a body. It’s not pleasant, as Blondie here can tell you.” Specs laughed as Richie flinched away from the shadow as it passed near him.

“Looking like this? Of course, not. I’d rather she goes on never knowing.”

“Is that why you’re okay not getting a body of your own?”

She shrugged. She drifted around Richie again. He watched her nervously, then darted his gaze to Virgil, then back to Daisy again.

“You want her to go on and… and be happy, right?”

“Happy as she can be without her only child, you mean,” Specs quipped.

“Of course,” Daisy’s voice was barely a whisper, and Richie shivered as the noise was right in his ear.

“So, you’re still…”

“Still what, Virgil?”

“Still in there, somewhere. Your mom knew you’d want her to move on. I think she’s actually really lonely without you,”

Daisy looked momentarily troubled, then Spec’s shadow slithered toward them, and said, “What’s it matter if she still loves her mom, _Virgil?_ Every murderer has a mom.”

“Murder!? Daisy you haven’t gone that far yet. You can still pull back.”

Daisy closed her eyes and shook her head. “That’s basically the plan for Richie, Virgil. Even if you get him out of here, I’m sure you’ve noticed that these shadow creatures are poisonous. Richie will be dead in a day anyway. Anyone who has gotten in our way getting parts for the machine has been poisoned. Even if they were just witness. We couldn’t risk anyone spreading word to you or Batman or anyone before we were ready or strong enough to protect ourselves. We had to wipe their memories.”

“B..but you just said Specs has control of the…”

“I still didn’t stop him, Virgil. Anyone who has died because of the poison is on my hands.”

“Daisy…”

“Stop making excuses for me!” Daisy screamed. “Why can’t you… Just…” She lunged toward Virgil, and Virgil grabbed Daisy and wrenched her toward him. The effect was immediate. The scorch marks twisted and spiraled over her skin.

“No!” screamed Specs, as his shadow form was pushed back to the edge of the cage again.

She cried out, and so did Richie as the shadows dug into his already bruised skin. Virgil struggled to keep his hold, and folded her into a tighter hug, then suddenly, the scorch marks separated from her skin and everything stopped.

The shadows hung midair around them, and as Virgil had protected Richie unknowingly, he protected her now. She was barely there, like embracing smoke, but he did so nonetheless.

He pulled back, hands on her shoulders and looked her in the face. Daisy looked up at him, and her eyes filled with tears. “This is the first time… I’ve felt anything other than angry in over a year.”

“How _do_ you feel?”

“…Tired.”

“What else?”

She didn’t answer at first. There was silence. Virgil looked up over her at Richie, checking on him again. Richie caught his eye as he tried to catch his breath again through a running nose. He wept, and hung his head. He couldn’t take anymore.

“Jealous.” Virgil looked at Daisy in surprise to see her following his gaze to Richie. 

“Do you really want to hurt him?”

Daisy looked away from Richie. Finally tears came to her eyes as she said, “No. I know he didn’t let me die. I know he tried to protect me…But it’s not…fair.” She hung her head and Virgil could only think to sweep her hair behind her ear like he used to. “It’s not fair, Virgil. I love you, too.”

Virgil hadn’t expected that. Taken aback momentarily, he looked up at Richie, who’s eyes were wide. Richie diverted his gaze, his cheeks tinged pink.

“I Love you. I loved you.” Daisy repeated. Her tears fell, and evaporated as they left her cheeks. “But it doesn’t matter. I’m only here because of the gas, and I lasted so long because I let Specs feed into my anger and my pain. I would have faded away after just a few days if he hadn’t used that machine of his to attack Ebon and absorb his power. I know that I’m less than a specter… but it’s not fair.”

Virgil nodded, his throat tight. “I know. I...”

“I tried to reach you first, you know. I’m guessing it was your field that kept me way.” She sighed and leaned into his embrace once more before she pulled away. “You’ll only have a minute or two. Be ready.”

Virgil wasn’t sure what she meant at first, until she closed her eyes and pressed her hands together as if in prayer. Richie cried out as he was suddenly released. Virgil caught him as he stumbled to his knees. He was panting and with trembling fingers, he pulled the wires from his skin. Virgil stopped him from ripping out the IV, and carefully removed it for him.

“I’m sorry,” Daisy raised her hands and a wave of light came from her in all directions. Virgil and Richie shielded their eyes and then Virgil felt a breeze. He scooped Richie up in his arms and sprinted for the hole Daisy made in the sphere. He reached out toward the metal equipment attached to the opposite wall of the lab, and pulled himself and Richie toward it.

They hit the wall hard and as Virgil was gently placing Richie one the floor. Richie looked back and made eye contact with Daisy one last time. She smiled as this time she was the light swallowed by darkness.

Then the moment passed, and chaos erupted around them anew. Batman was still fighting specs. He’d merged with the machine itself in absence of a victim to take over. Nightwing was busy with the smaller creatures. They swarmed after him as he jumped from beam to beam in the rafters. For every one or two he managed to shock out of existence with his tasers, Specs spawned a few more from his huge mass.

“Virg,” Richie said urgently.

“I know.” Virgil stood up, making sure Richie was protected behind him, Virgil made a motion that mimicked Daisy’s last, and a wave escaped from him that swept the room. The smaller shadows were obliterated on contact, and Nightwing whipped around to nod to them before he quickly dispatched the last few with his taser. Virgil readied himself as Specs caught sight of him.

Specs roared with rage as he reared back, then brought down a large fist toward Batman. He dodged and Virgil zapped the fist directly. Specs reared back again, then with yet another roar of sound, he grew huge and utterly inhuman. Tendrils of darkness shot out across the room. Batman and Nightwing were separated from Virgil and Richie and Specs laughed as he rose to the height of the ceiling. Richie reached up and snatched Virgil’s communicator from his belt.

“Wha?”

“I… need parts.” Richie was sweating. Daisy has been right. He’d been deeply infected by the shadows and needed help fast.

Virgil turned to him. “Rich, let me,”

Richie was leaning against the wall, breathing hard as he tried to pry open a panel on the machine beside him. “No! V. Focus… on what’s in front of you.” Virgil reluctantly did as he was told, though with a wave of his hand, the panel shot off across the room.

Specs sneered at Virgil a moment, and then he attacked. It was like the weapon he’d had on his suit, but much, much stronger. Virgil was ready, however, and he put up a shield just as the weapon hit. Specs laughed- a horrendous sound- somewhere above them, and redoubled his effort. Virgil could barely hold up the shield, and he shook with the effort to keep it up. Then, finally, the attack ceased, and Virgil dropped his shield.

“I’m impressed.” Specs was still towering above them. The ground around them was cracked, gouged and small fires had lit where equipment combusted around them.

“Give up, Specs.” Virgil shouted. “Ebon is gone. Daisy is gone. You’re going to use up all the energy you have left trying to kill us. We may be able to save you if you stop now. The power you’re messing with could destroy half of Dakota. If you keep fighting, We’ll have to stop you… whatever it takes.”

“I don’t think you’re in a position to order me, little lightning bug.” Specs rose again. “Do you even have it in you to take another attack?” He swelled as he gathered energy, and Virgil panted as he readied himself to try and defend against it again. He didn’t have it in him. He knew he didn’t.

Specs began to laugh again, then stopped abruptly as something started to click beneath him. He looked down, and realized that gas was leaking from the tank beneath him. “What!?”

Behind Virgil, Richie wheezed a laugh. The communicator dropped from his limp hand. “It worked.”

“What worked!?” Specs demanded.

“That tank has all the same fail safes as the one that went off last year. You compromised the physical mechanisms. All that was left protecting it was the electronic ones. Now… all it will take… is a spark.” Richie passed out.

“Rich!”

“No!” Specs retracted his shadows suddenly from all over the room to try and contain the gas. Batman and Nightwing suddenly came into view.

“Good work, Richie,” They shared a look, and then both attacked the other tank across the room. Batman hit it with a gadget that shorted the electronics inside, and Nightwing rammed the valve with another smaller machine, and it began to leak as well.

“Virgil, do it!” Batman and Nightwing retreated to the base of the stairs out in the hallway. Nightwing grabbed Richie on the way out.

Specs abandoned the attempt to contain and moved to attack Virgil again instead. Virgil waited for Batman and Nightwing to get clear, and then with a clap of his hands, he sent a shower of sparks over the cloud just as Specs attacked.

There was a huge explosion. It started at the gas near ground level, and rocketed up toward Specs like a fuse. Spec’s last scream was lost in the noise seconds before he- in his entirety- was engulfed in smoke and fire.

Outside, firetrucks, police, and onlookers from the neighborhood were already gathering to watch the fire. Virgil pulled up his hood since he was sans mask and ran to Batman where he stood alone. He beckoned for Virgil to follow and then fired off his grappling gun. Virgil followed to the top of a nearby four story building, and landed next to Nightwing. Nightwing was crouched on the ground and Richie was passed out, shivering and wheezing against his chest.

Virgil didn’t wait for invitation before he placed his hands upon Richie’s stomach- from what he could see, one of the only uninjured parts of him- and zapped him like he had Nightwing. Just as Nightwing had, Richie went into a coughing fit, and considerably more of the black mist escaped from every cut as well as his mouth and nose. Virgil pushed down the wave of nausea he felt seeing it and focused on what he was doing. He focused on the fact this would make Richie better.

Finally he pulled away, and Richie lay gasping for air. He looked up at Virgil, and reached for him weakly. Virgil took his hand, and Richie smiled. As Richie fell asleep, finally, Virgil thought of Daisy’s words and Richie’s reaction to them.

When Richie’s hand went limp in his, Nightwing picked Richie up and said, “I’ll take him to get treated.”

Virgil started to follow, but Batman held him back. “I need you to help me check out the lab. There’s one more tank in there we didn’t open. We need to move it out of here and make sure it’s contained or destroyed.”


	6. Breathe Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy is gone, and now Virgil and Richie take their first real steps forward.

Virgil had no problem lifting the entire tank from the ashes and charred concrete once he’d had a something to eat. He worked quickly yet carefully. As much as he wanted to be done and go see Richie, he was afraid of messing up. He used the time to think about Daisy and Richie, and his own feelings toward both of them.

Batman directed him as he worked, but was otherwise mostly quiet. Finally, the Tank was secured on a Wayne industries flatbed and they started to make their way out of the ruins.

“None of this is your fault, you know.” Batman said.

Virgil looked up at him in surprise. “I… I know.” Batman was quiet. He seemed to be waiting for Virgil to continue. “It was weird to see her again. Especially when all I got to do was break her heart instead of saying goodbye. And she said,”

“What did she say?”

“When she said she loved me, I never said it back. I’m not sure what I should have said, but I should have said something, right?” Virgil had been focused on Richie, on wanting to save him. Daisy was already gone. He’d done his mourning… at least that’s what he’d told himself in the moment. Had Daisy seen it that way? Even if Virgil had been unaware, she’d been very present, and spent over a year tormenting Richie. Did Richie see her that way? Could he?

Batman shook his head. “I don’t have an answer for you.” They were quiet as Virgil cleared a fallen beam.

“Your father is dating someone now, right?” Batman asked suddenly. Virgil nodded. “I’m sure he still loves and misses your mother every day. There’s no replacing the mother of his children, but he’s found room in his life for a new love too. Your father’s girlfriend is still alive… _Richie_ is still alive, Virgil.” They fell silent and walked on.

Batman and Virgil walked the rumble and came across the figure of a man, feebly crawling over the rubble. Or, at least it used to be a man. It was thin and faceless except for a mouth that was agape. As they watched, it faded to nothing.

Batman clapped a hand on his shoulder, as Virgil bowed his head. He knew it had been necessary. He knew Specs would have faded to nothing with or without his intervention. He had only stopped him doing unspeakable damage on the way out, but he still felt horrible. He looked up, and his eyes widened.

For just a moment, he thought he saw her. She looked peaceful, happy even. But it was only for a second, before she, too, faded away. Virgil thought that he heard, like a whisper on the wind, _I loved you_.

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In the hospital, when Richie opened his eyes, Nightwing was sitting beside him. The room was otherwise empty. “How are you feeling?” Nightwing asked quietly.

“Much better.” He started to sit up, but then pain raced through him and he lay back instead. “Well, maybe not _much_ better, but…”

Nightwing chuckled. “How are you feeling, other than the obvious?” He tapped Richie’s chest above his heart with a fist. Richie placed his own hand here, and thought about it.

“I don’t know.”

“It’s a lot.”Nightwing said quietly.

“Yeah. Virgil still loves her _.”_

They fell into silence. Nightwing hesitated, and then broke the silence.

“It’s okay to be confused. You knew her in a way and… under circumstances that literally only you will ever know. It’s okay to feel conflicted about her memory. It’s okay to feel… confused about Virgil’s relationship to her.” Richie perked up at that, blushing. Nightwing smirked. “The way you look at him, I could tell.”

Richie sank back into the pillows, his face burning. “Great.”

“You should tell him, Richie.”

“Daisy already outed me. He knows.” Richie ran a hand through his hair, and paused when he caught sight of the cuts and bruises on his forearm. “I don’t know if I can forgive her. She’s not who she was before, and I know that. She wasn’t even the same as who she was at the very end. It was Specs influencing her to act that way… but…Virgil still loves her.”

“But Specs was only influencing her. She still chose to hurt you.”

“I don’t want to hate her…” Richie covered his head in his hands, “But I don’t think I can forgive her.”

“You don’t have to, Richie, but…” He paused. “Batman never forgave the man who took his parents. He never will. It’s why he does what he does, and he does so much good… but… he also never…let himself move on. He carries it with him, in the suit and outside it. I’ve seen what it does to a man, Richie, to live in a perpetual state of guilt… and mourning. Don’t let it eat away at you. Let the dead die, Richie. Mourn them, and honor their memory however you must, but you have to let the dead be dead.”

Nightwing left not long after that. He said he had to check in with Batman. He promised to stop in again before he returned to Gotham with Batman. “Richards have to stick together,” he’d said with a wink. Richie was left alone with his thoughts, trying to get some sleep. His body was aching badly, however, and it would be a while before he got his next dose of pain medication.

He heard the door open, and assuming it was a nurse, he kept his eyes closed. “Rich?”

Richie’s eyes snapped open and he looked around at Virgil. He was wearing street clothes. Aside from a large band-aid on his neck he looked unharmed. He was holding backpack in one hand and an actual backpack in the other. When he saw Richie was awake, he stepped quickly to the side of the bed and set the bags down. “My pops packed a bag for you for while you’re here. He and Sharon are downstairs talking to a doctor.”

Richie sat up a little straighter. He nodded, but was afraid to speak. He was tired of crying in front of Virgil. Virgil moved slowly, like he was unsure, then took Richie’s hand and sat on the edge of his bed. Richie stared at their hands.

“I’m… glad you’re okay.” Richie said.

Suddenly a tear fell upon their linked hands. Richie looked up at Virgil in shock. “I’m not okay, Richie. I almost lost you.”

Virgil’s gaze bore into Richie with a great intensity, and Richie was sure he was blushing again. He was grateful for the semidarkness. He dropped his gaze, but Virgil caught his chin in one hand and Richie felt compelled to make eye contact again. “You… you didn’t…”

Virgil smiled. “No… because you saved all our asses at the end, there.”

Richie gave a half laugh, and said, “Well, not before you all saved mine.”

Virgil nodded. He dropped his gaze to their hands again, and lifted them together, then moved his hand to intertwine his fingers with Richie’s. Shock paralyzed Richie as he stared at this, and he held his breath when Virgil spoke. “I’m not good at this. You know. You saw how long it took for me to…” he paused. He leaned forward, and gently pressed his lips to Richie’s. As they separated, Richie covered his mouth. He was sure he was bright red. “Please be patient with me.” Virgil said. “I’ve known the way I felt about you was more than friendship, but I’m still figuring it out.”

“Don’t… you don’t have to, Virgil. I’m,” Richie stumbled and stammered over his words and Virgil let out his first real genuine laugh in a while.

“The man who thinks at ten million words a minute, and I’ve left him speechless. Should I be flattered or insulted?”

Richie joined in the laugh incredulously. “Flattered, I guess, if it’s just between those two.”

They laughed again, and were soon joined by Sharon and Mr. Hawkins, who both embraced Richie and scolded them both for getting hurt again. After that the mood became much lighter, and they talked about what they would do when Richie came home, and about Virgil and Richie’s plans for college. They talked until Richie’s meds made him sleepy again, and the Hawkins took turns saying good night.

Virgil was the last in the room, and as he leaned down to give Richie a hug, Richie planted a small kiss upon his cheek. Mr. Hawkins pretended not to notice, and Sharon mumbled something like, _finally_. It was Virgil’s turn to blush this time and he said, “We’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Yeah, see you then.”

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A year later, Richie and Virgil wound their way through the wide-open grounds of the graveyard according to the instructions Daisy’s parents had given. When they drew close, Richie hung back. He was feeling a little unsure, now he was here. “I’ll be right there. Just… I need a minute.” Virgil went on ahead, and Richie knelt at the base of the large tree beside him.

He closed his eyes. He wasn’t quite sure how he felt about Daisy. Who he’d known her as, what she’d done, and why, what she’d become, and how’d she’d vanished all haunted him still. Most of all now, her place in Virgil’s life, and his place in her shadow loomed over him. He knew this visit was important to Virgil. He’d hinted he had something very important to say to her. Richie was just afraid of what it may be.

He’d decided already though to stick beside Virgil. Virgil had been there for him so far. Through meetings with Black Canary, the hard days and the not so hard days, his return as Gear- Virgil had been there through all of it. He would return the favor. He took a deep breath, and stood.

Just as Richie came upon Virgil, Virgil lay the daisies in his hand upon her gravestone. There was no one buried there, of course, but it was the only place he had to visit. He sat down and bowed his head, thinking of what to say.

“I’m sorry,” he said to her. “I’m sorry I couldn’t say it when you could hear me, but I loved you. I love you now. I always will. I thought I loved you so much that I’d never move on, but…” He turned to Richie behind him and he smiled. He turned back to her. “I’m happy, Daisy. I still don’t know what it is we have yet, but it’s special, and I want to… I want to see it through.”

Richie moved it to Virgil’s side and lay his own flowers upon the stone. “Did you say everything you wanted to?”

“For now, yeah. I missed a lot of chances to say what I meant to her when I had the chance.” He looked up at Richie. “I won’t do the same with you. I love you, Rich. Sorry it took so long.”

Virgil smiled and offered his hand. Richie returned the smile, wiping his eyes on his sleeve, took Virgil’s hand and sat beside him in the grass.

“I love you, too.”

Virgil rested his head upon Richie’s shoulder and together, they watched the sun set upon the city skyline.

**Author's Note:**

> This work was originally conceptualized as a comic, and I decided to release it in this form first. It was a story about grief and trauma, and I'm sorry if it got kind of vague and heavy at the same time. I hope people enjoy it anyway.
> 
> IDK if people are interested I'll go back and go for comic form again. It's just not a very well known fandom I guess. Anyway, I appreciate anyone who takes the time to read it and makes it to the end, and I appreciate any feedback I get. :)
> 
> -VM


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